


He's a Fiery Witch

by Midnight_Clover



Series: Witchverse [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, Angst, Art, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Bombs, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/F, F/M, Familiars, Family, Fighting, Flashbacks, Flirting, Friendship, Galra Keith (Voltron), Gay Keith (Voltron), Headaches & Migraines, Humor, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Kidnapping, Lance (Voltron) Speaks Spanish, M/M, Magic, Major Character Injury, Minor Character Death, Nightmares, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Orphan Keith (Voltron), Panicking, Portals, Pre-Slash, Rejection, Running Away, Season/Series 01, Secrets, Slow Burn, Swearing, Talking Animals, Torture, Touch Aversion, Trust Issues, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Witch Keith (Voltron), not as bad as it sounds, pre-pre-slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-14
Updated: 2018-11-13
Packaged: 2019-05-29 15:52:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 19
Words: 27,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15076544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Midnight_Clover/pseuds/Midnight_Clover
Summary: Keith has been hiding for a long time. He is used to it for the most part. But now they're inspace, and Keith really wishes he learned more magic.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Keith’s familial situation differs from the cannon.
> 
> (The name of the fic is dumb, but it's been too late to change it for a while.)

Keith crept down the stairs to get a glass of water. In his hand was a small star, dimly lighting his way in the partial darkness. The kitchen door was closed, though light shined out around its edges. His parents were awake. He let his little star evanesce.

 

Keith heard a sharp slap and he faltered backward. He could hear his father yelling. “Learn your place, Witch!” His mother made a noise like a kicked puppy.

Keith, deciding he didn’t need that glass of water right now, slowly crept back up the stairs to his room.

 

^*^

 

An hour later, when all the lights in the house had been turned off, Keith slipped down the stairs to the kitchen. Through the cracks in his fist, the light from a new star lit his way in the gloom. There was no evidence that anything had happened other than the small shard of glass left in the sink.

 

Keith got his water, slowly walking up the creaky stairs to his room. Quietly, he put his water down and crept around the small house in search of his mother. His search soon ended in the backyard where he found her staring out at the sky. Small lights floated around the single bare, gnarled, sad, old tree that sat timelessly in their yard each winter.

 

“Mom?” Keith whispered.

 

Keith’s mother flinched in surprise. “Yes, Akaria?” Keith’s mom had called him that since he learned his first spell. She told him it was his special name. 

 

“Are you okay?”

 

“I am perfect, Love.” She turned and smiled at him. There was a small cut across her cheek. “Would you like to help?” She asked when he noticed, crouching down next to her son.

The star in Keith’s fist was released, floating away into the night sky. Keith nodded, raising his fingers to touch his mother’s cheek. “Now,” His mother whispered, “just like I taught you.” Keith thought hard, and lavender light sprung from his fingertips, flowing into his mother’s skin. As he removed his fingers, the light stayed in his mother's cheek, and the cut slowly vanished, until there was no trace.

 

“Very good, Akaria,” his mother encouraged with a smile wrinkling her face. She picked Keith up and carried him back to his room. She quietly tucked her son into bed, plopping a kiss in the middle of his forehead. “Would you like some stars?”

 

Keith gave a jerky nod. “Okay.” She smiled warmly. “Do it with me.” She lifted Keith's hand in her own and spread their fingers far apart. Together, they slowly curled them inwards, yellow light forming at the tips, and quickly popped them open. Ten specks of light twinkled on the ceiling, ten more appearing each time they flicked them out.

 

Eventually, Keith’s mom stood up from her seat on the bed. “Sweet dreams, Love,” She whispered from the doorway.

 

“Good night, Mom.” Keith smiled as his mother shut the door behind her.

 

^*^

 

A few days later, Keith awoke to his mother shaking his shoulder. “Akaria, Honey. Pack your things,” His mother commanded. “We’re leaving.”

 

Keith sat up and got off the bed slowly. “What?” He asked in his half-asleep state. He had barely understood the words entering his groggy mind.

 

His mother was already grabbing clothes from his dresser. “Put these on,” She told him, throwing a shirt and pants in his direction. Keith sleepily changed out of his pajamas and into the clothes. His mother had grabbed his backpack and started shoving the contents of his dresser into it as he changed. As soon as Keith finished changing his mother zipped up the backpack and handed it to him. 

 

Keith noticed she had her backpack on, so he carefully slid his own on. His mother rushed to pick him up. As Keith woke up more, he became more aware. He saw that his mother had a cut from her eyebrow to her ear. He also noticed the fear in his mother’s eyes; they were shining slightly. The third thing he noticed was that his mother’s grasp wasn’t quite strong enough for her to be holding him by herself while she was moving so quickly. 

 

Keith adjusted himself to get a better grip on his mother. She pushed him into the truck and quickly strapped him in. She flung her backpack by Keith’s feet and shoved the keys into the ignition. She quickly adjusted the mirrors, released the parking brake, pressed her foot to the breaks, and shifted the gear quickly. As Keith’s mother slammed her foot on the gas, sending them backward, Keith’s father ran out of the house. “Izzy!” His father shrieked. “You come back here this instant, you bitch!” 

 

Keith’s mom quickly turned onto the main road, swinging Keith in his seat. “Sorry,” His mom whispered, sounding slightly choked. Keith didn’t really know who she was talking to. His dad’s voice quickly dissolved in the darkness as they sped down the long road. 

 

Keith could see a gas station up ahead, just a faint glow in the distance. Keith slid off his backpack to join his mother’s at his feet. As the gas station grew bigger, his mother slowed down. Keith assumed they needed gas. 

 

His mother surprised him by settling their car into the gas station parking lot. “Stay here,” She commanded. 

 

Soon, Keith’s eyes were wandering out the window of the car. He saw his mother at an ATM. Her eyes glowed as she typed a number on the pin pad. Ten bills popped out of the machine and Keith’s mom grabbed them and folded them into her pocket.

 

Keith leaned back into his seat as his mother made the trek back. When his mom got back in the car, there were puddles of water in her eyes. “What's wrong, Mom?” Keith asked.

 

“Nothing you need to worry about,” She told him as she cradled his cheek.

 

Keith lifted his fingers to his mother’s still cut face. Lavender light glowed into his mother’s skin, and the cut was soon gone. “Thank you, Love.” She smiled. “Now,” She clapped her hands together, grinning. “What would you like for breakfast?”

 

^*^

 

Keith shot up from where he laid and was immediately concerned; this wasn’t his bed. Then he remembered what had happened the day before. He was in space. With the stars. He pulled his mother’s dagger out from under his pillow and slowly unwrapped the cloth around the hilt.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Alarms started going off. Blaring loud enough to wake those even in the deepest sleep. Keith imagined that would be rather jarring and disorienting, he was glad to already have been awake. 

 

“Everybody up!” Allura’s panicked voice rang over the intercom. “Zarkon’s attacking! The Castle’s about to be destroyed!” Keith stood up suddenly. He rapidly wrapped up his knife and shoved it into its scabbard. Keith dashed across his room to grab his jacket and launched out the door. “Go, go, go! We need Voltron now!” Allura yelled. “Hurry! We can’t survive much longer!” 

 

“Oh, no!” Coran yelled over the coms. “Allura is dead!” Keith realized this was a drill but still rushed to the bridge with vigilance. “Aw, it’s horrible! Her head fell off!” That was a bit graphic in Keith’s opinion and unnecessary. “Wait! What? Her severed head is trying to speak to me!” The statement was so utterly silly and outlandish that it got a small chuckle out of Keith. “What is it, Allura’s head? What are your final words?” Coran asked as the Paladins all got to the bridge.

 

“Coran,” Allura said, clearly annoyed.

 

“Oh, yes, Princess, I’m listening,” Coran responded, still lost in his own world.

 

“It's over,” Allura stated dryly.

 

“Oh, I know!” Coran groaned overdramatically. “If only Voltron had been formed.” Coran looked up. He was suddenly back to the present. “Oh! Time!” He said throwing the communicator behind him.

 

“I guess this isn’t an actual attack,” Shiro commented, a combination of concern and humor on his face. 

 

Keith tensed, bracing himself for the impending lecture from Allura. “And it's a good thing it wasn't because it took you…” She paused and glanced at Coran. “Coran?”

 

“Seventy-five degrees. Oh,” A small ding came from the device Coran held, “sorry. No, this is a meat thermometer.” Coran tossed the object behind him. Hunk gave an almost inaudible chuckle, heard only by Keith who was standing next to him. He still seemed pretty tired, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

 

“However long it was, it was too long,” Allura continued. “You must always be ready to do battle with Zarkon. Look at you!” She gestured to us, “Only Shiro is in uniform. Keith, Pidge, Hunk, where are your bayards? And where is Lance?”

 

As if on cue, Lance came through the bridge door. He yawned, completely unaware of the situation. Keith glared at him, wishing he could have at least been a little prepared. “Good morning, everybody. What's going on?” Lance said. His skin literally glistened. 

 

“Coran and I have been up for hours getting the Castle back in order. We had to run a test on the alarms, and we decided to test you as well.” She paused and glared at Lance. “Guess which one failed.”

 

^*^

 

It had been a long day full of meeting the aliens that lived on this planet and fighting a giant robot alien. The Castle was dark. Keith was tired, but not in the kind of way where you want to sleep. The kind where Keith would try and look at the stars. When Keith was little, and his body was tired, but his mind still wide awake Keith would sit with his mom outside and gaze up at the night sky with her for hours. He wandered the halls, a star in his fist illuminating a small space around him. 

 

A second set of footsteps joined Keith’s. Surprised at the sound, Keith let go of his star. Regret rolled through him as he silently willed the light to dissipate. The footsteps grew closer as the light quickly vanished. 

 

A person moved into Keith’s vision, with only the dim light of the Castle’s night setting illuminating the figure. Keith asked, “Pidge?”

 

Pidge jumped. “Oh! Keith, I didn’t realize anyone else was awake,” Pidge said through the darkness.

 

“What are you doing awake?” Keith asked.

 

“I could say the same to you,” Pidge said.

 

“Coran said you couldn’t question the prisoners ‘till tomorrow.” 

 

“Yeah, he said that yesterday,” Pidge said. At this point, it was probably past midnight, and to Pidge, a new day.

 

“Whatever,” Keith said, “just don't kill anyone.” 

 

Pidge stiffened. “I won't stop until I find my family.” 

 

“I don’t blame you. Why do you think I got kicked out of the Garrison?” Keith gave a chuckle. “I didn’t stop.”

 

“Lance said something about you being in the Garrison when we met you. But I don't remember you there at all.” 

 

“If you wait ‘till morning to wake up the prisoners, I’ll tell you about my time at the Garrison,” Keith bargained.

 

“Not worth it.”

 

“Pidge, they won't be able to answer your questions if they still have brain damage,” Keith said, putting a hand on Pidge’s shoulder.

 

Pidge shook off Keith’s hand. “They never had brain damage. Go back to bed.” 

 

Keith sighed and walked away.

 

When Keith was far enough away, he summoned another star. Its yellow light guiding his way, he wandered the castle. A few minutes later, he was once again interrupted. “What are you doing up?” Lance’s voice asked behind him.

 

Keith willed his star out. “What are you doing up?”

 

“I asked you first,” Lance declared.

 

“I asked you second,” Keith declared back. 

 

“I’m going to the kitchen to get some water,” Lance said. “Where did you get a flashlight?”

 

_ Oh, dear… _ Keith mentally sighed. He decided to play dumb. “What are you talking about?” 

 

“You had a flashlight. Turn it back on,” Lance commanded.

 

“No, I didn’t.” 

 

“What are you doing awake anyway? And why are you hiding a flashlight from me? It’s just a flashlight!”

 

A door opened beside the two. Their noise must have woken someone up. Keith silently prayed it was Shiro. “What is going on here?” Allura’s voice asked in the darkness.  _ Shit. _ “What is the meaning of such noise at this hour?” Allura’s voice demanded an answer.

 

“Lance thinks I have a flashlight,” Keith stated simply.

 

“He does!” Lance yelled. “I saw it!” 

 

“What the quiznack is a ‘flashlight’?” Allura demanded, rubbing her eyes.

 

“It's like a… portable light source,” Lance explained. 

 

“Whatever. Goodbye,” Keith excused himself from the conversation as fast as he could. 

 

Keith began to walk away, Allura and Lance continuing the conversation. Faintly, Keith heard Lance flirting with her. That's when he zoned out of the conversation. His eyes got used to the dark. When he was too far away to hear Allura and Lance, he turned a corner. He was about to summon a star when he tripped. He heard squeaking. “Sorry, little guys,” he said, rubbing his shin. 

 

The mice scampered up his leg, squeaking as they all tried to fit on his knee. As one slipped off, trying to grasp onto Keith's jeans, Keith put his hand under the small creature to hold it up. "What are you guys doing up?" He asked. The mice squeaked incoherently. Keith picked up the mice by the scruffs of their necks and placed them on the ground. "Well, I can't understand you. So I'm just going to go."

 

Keith slipped away, giving up on the stars and finding his room in the darkness. His shin still hurt from the fall. He hoped he didn't hurt any of the mice. Keith's fingers glowed lavender as he brought them to his skin. The pain slowly faded away. Keith began to feel cold in the dark room. Cold and tired. Keith's eyes glowed pink. A red wolf glowed in front of him. "Hello, Keith," The wolf said without moving its mouth. 

 

"Hi, Aiden," Keith said. Aiden jumped onto the bed, giving Keith a small lick as she curled up next to him. 

 

"Keith, you are perfectly safe," She told him. 

 

"I know," Keith said. He draped an arm over the large beast, gently stroking her mane.

 

Keith spent so much time alone with Aiden. A witch's familiar cannot be replaced. Aiden was a warm beast on those cold desert nights. Aiden's warmth was similar to that of the Red Lion. Surrounding, encompassing, and empowering.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aiden was an idea I had before season 7 came out, don't yell at me.


	3. Chapter 3

Keith slowly woke up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He sat up and stroked Aiden softly. Moving like a koala, he walked across the room to the small table that sat in the corner. He picked up the small calendar that sat on the table. 

 

He ripped off the small tab at the bottom of yesterday’s date. It was a three-year calendar. Keith didn’t know how long he would be in the desert looking for Shiro. He noticed the date; October sixteenth. 

 

Aiden hopped off the bed and trotted over to him. “What’s the matter?” She asked as he scratched her head. 

 

“It's the sixteenth,” Keith said.

 

“Oh. It’s only a week away.” Aiden frowned. 

 

“Yeah,” Keith sighed. He bent down and gave Aiden a hug before his eyes flashed lime green. She disappeared.

 

^*^

 

Hunk joined Keith where he and Lance stood. "We ought to get something like that," He commented.

 

"Like what?" Lance asked.

 

"You know, like a cheer. Like, a team cheer that we do," Hunk said.

 

"Mm-hmm. Yeah, okay," Lance said. "How about, uh... I say ‘Vol’ and you say ‘Tron’. Vol!" Lance cheered.

 

Keith decided to join the conversation, at the wrong moment. "Uh...Voltron?" Keith asked. 

 

"No! No, no, no. The cheer includes the instructions I say ‘Vol’ and you say..." Lance prompted again. 

 

Keith, still confused from zoning out earlier answered, "Vol..tron?" 

 

"We'll work on it," Lance bemoaned. He took a big swig of the drink he held, overdramatically gagged on it, and turned to Coran. "Coran, what is this?" 

 

Keith stopped paying attention again, zoning back in when Lance froze. Hunk and Keith stood around him, inspecting his disturbing state. Keith poked him and he fell over, hitting the floor with a clunk. Hunk and Keith stood there watching his motionless body for some time. Eventually, they gave up on getting him to move, Keith getting his own cup of nunvill, and Hunk getting some snacks. 

 

As soon as Keith took a swig, he spat it out, in Hunk's face, right in the eyes. Lance's reaction didn't seem so over the top after all. With snacks held over his face, Hunk screamed, "My eyes!" 

 

Keith and Hunk laughed together, but Keith couldn't help but feel out of place. He felt wrong. It reminded him of old friends, of comfort that wasn’t yet trust. Keith had mistaken that comfort for trust. It never was. They cast him away as soon as they found him out. Keith moved away from the conversation; he couldn’t make the same mistake again. Even Shiro didn't know Keith was a witch.

 

He focused on a new conversation that Pidge and Allura were having. "Hmm... Well, I like peanut butter," Pidge started, "and I like peanut butter cookies, but I hate peanuts. They're so dry. Also, I sweat a lot. I-I mean, in general, unrelated to the peanuts." So Pidge is a rambler. Keith smiles to himself, amused.

 

"I suppose I was thinking of something a little more personal. We have a lot in common," Allura baited.

 

Keith moved on from that conversation too, slightly confused by Allura’s comment. He wandered around the main hall for a bit, noticing that Lance and Coran had left. 

 

With all the Arusians walking around, he felt kind of claustrophobic. It was a bit disconcerting to be moving around people who barely reached your hips. Oddly enough his arms felt just as squished as his legs even though there was nothing near them. He felt like he was going to trip over one of them at some point. The fact that the doors were standing wide open was another source of apprehension.

 

Keith saw Pidge and Shiro come back into the main hall. Keith walked over to them with Allura and Hunk. "Pidge, no," Shiro pleaded.

 

"The download from the Galra ship was enough to at least get me in the right direction to start my search. I have a pod all ready to go," Pidge explained.

 

"You can't leave," Keith said. 

 

"You can't tell me what to do!" She retorted passionately. Keith realized this was true, but it seemed like anything he said would be of no use. Keith and Pidge glared at each other. 

 

Keith really didn't want him to leave. Pidge had become a friend, no matter how much Keith would deny it if asked. All of the paladins had become Keith's friends. They were brothers, as Hunk put it. "If you leave, we can't form Voltron. And that means we can't defend the universe against Zarkon. You're not the only one with a family. All these Arusians have families. Everyone in the universe has families," Keith told him. 

 

"Yeah, I have a family. They live on Earth. I want to be with them. Is that, like, a thing that can happen?" Hunk asked. 

 

"You want to leave, too?" Allura asked the tone of her voice and shine of her eyes pleading for the answer to be no.

 

"Of course I do!" Hunk exclaimed quickly. "Look, Voltron is super cool, don't get me wrong, but I never signed up for a lifetime in space, fighting aliens." Keith couldn't disagree. they didn't exactly get to pick this. And Keith didn't exactly want to stay- he just wanted Shiro back.

 

Keith decided that it was time to name the root of the problem. "You're putting the lives of two people over the lives of everyone else in the entire galaxy!" 

 

But then there was the fact that they were kind of being used to fight a war that they didn't choose to fight just because they were the only ones who could. He thought back to his mother. Keith's ‘father’ had been using her to fuel his addiction to alcohol. His mother could ease the pain of the hangovers. And to justify an addiction to violence, as there were no consequences if the victim can heal themselves immediately. 

 

"Keith, that's not how a team works," Shiro scolded. "People have to want to be a part of it. They can't be forced." Shiro turned to Pidge. "If you want to leave, we won't try to stop you. But, please, just think about what you're doing.”

 

"I'm sorry. You're going to have to find someone else to pilot the Green Lion," Pidge stated regretfully, his eyebrows pinched together and an apologetic look in his eyes. 

 

"I cannot believe this," Allura declared sadly as Pidge strode away. “The fabric of Voltron is being torn apart!”

 

The world froze. A deafening blare spread through the room, knocking several Arusians off their feet and vanquishing all of the castle’s light. The Arusians mobbed out of the castle, chaos and screams filling the air. The paladins geared into action, sprinting towards the source of the destructive noise. Fear filled their bodies as they ran.


	4. Chapter 4

They found Coran lying in the hallway outside the bridge. He was sprawled in an uncomfortable position with red cuts showing all over his skin. "What happened?" Shiro asked the stress in his voice evident.

 

Coran groaned as he sat up. "I'm not sure." 

 

Allura gasped when the smoke cleared a little. "The crystal!" And when the smoke cleared more, "Lance!" 

 

Shiro ran up to Lance, while Hunk gave Coran the support. "Lance?" Shiro questioned. Lance groaned. Keith questioned himself. Was helping Lance worth the risk? Would Lance be okay without him? "Lance!" Shiro repeated. 

 

"We have to get Lance to the infirmary!" Pidge demanded.

 

"Without the crystal, the Castle has no power," Allura informed.

 

"He doesn't look good," Shiro told the surrounding people.

 

The Arusian King ran into the room. All eyes turned to him. "Lion warriors, our village is under attack! We need help!" The King pleaded. 

 

"Let's get to the lions!" Keith urged.

 

"You can't. They're sealed in their hangars. There's no way to get them out. We're defenseless," Allura said. Keith thought that was a little bit harsh, but who was he to argue. 

 

"Will you not help us?" The King pleaded.

 

"We'll help you. We just -" Keith started. Unable to speak, Lance groaned. Keith was so close. If only he could get Lance alone. Keith began plotting about what to do.

 

"This is bad," Hunk stated.

 

"No shit, Sherlock!" Keith yelled automatically.

 

"Keith," Shiro scolded.

 

"We have to get a new crystal to get the Castle working again," Coran said. "But to get a new crystal, we need a ship." 

 

"The pod I was loading! We can use that! I left the bay door open," Pidge quickly solved the problem.

 

"I can use the scanner in the pod to see if there's a Balmera nearby. Hunk, you come with me. I'll need someone big to help me carry the crystal," Coran said. 

 

Keith recognized that name. His mother had told him about Balmeran crystals. Why did she know about them? "A Balmera?" Hunk asked Coran. 

 

"It's where the crystals come from. I'll tell you about it on the way!" Coran said, running out of the room, gesturing for Hunk and Pidge to follow.

 

"I'll go see what's happening at the Arusian village," Keith said. Though splitting up wasn't the best option, he might be able to do more to help there.

 

"I'll go with you, Keith. I brought this on the poor Arusians," Allura said. It wasn’t exactly a fair or accurate conclusion to come to, but who was Keith to argue where he didn't need to. 

 

"I'll tend to Lance and stand watch over the Castle," Shiro said as Allura and Keith ran to the Arusian village. 

 

Keith and Allura quickly sprinted to the village. "What's happening?" Allura asked. It seemed the entire village was on fire. Layers of smoke covered large sections of the village.

 

"Look! Attackers!" The King cried, pointing to a group of Galra soldiers. A new explosion obstructed them from view. 

 

"I'll go in for a closer look. Stay here with them," Keith said.

 

"Keith!" Allura yelled, trying to stop him. Keith ignored her, swiftly gliding down the hill to the onslaught. 

 

Keith's eyes glowed pink as he quickly slid down the steep hill, Aiden joined him at the bottom in the flames. "Hey, Aiden," Keith smiled. The two of them rounded the corner of a building.

 

Now five broken Galra soldiers were in view. "What? Oh, no. They tricked us!" Keith shouted. "It was just a diversion to separate us and thin the Castle defenses!" 

 

"Calm yourself, Keith," Aiden told him. "There is still time." 

 

Keith quickly began sprinting back up to where Allura stood, eyes shifting to lime green for a moment. Aiden quickly shifted out of existence with an encouraging bark.

 

As Keith, now joined by Allura, sprinted to the Castle, they saw the Castle lights turn back on. They sprinted faster. They saw the particle barrier go online. They sprinted faster, hoping that they could get to it before it sealed the Castle. They weren’t fast enough.

 

Keith hurled his fist on the barrier as it closed. "We're too late. No!" He yelled. 

 

"They have control of the Castle. They're taking Voltron!" Allura said. 

 

"Can we break through the barrier?" Keith asked, taking out his bayard.

 

"No," Allura stated. "And whoever has taken the Castle has a crystal, which means they'll be able to fly the ship. We have to stop them."

 

"How are we going to do that?" Keith started formulating plans. If he could distract Allura he might be able to do a lot. Aiden might be able to help, but this might not be within her abilities. 

 

"Keith, can you hear me?" Pidge said over the comms.

 

"Pidge, is that you?" Keith asked. "Where are you?" Perfect, a distraction for Allura. Maybe he could do something useful as well. 

 

"I'm inside the Castle. Sendak has taken over and he's preparing for launch. He's got Lance and Shiro," Pidge informed. 

 

"Pidge, listen. If they've started the launch sequence, then we don't have much time before lift-off to stop it," Allura responded urgently.

 

"What do I have to do?" Pidge asked.

 

Keith started walking around the perimeter of the Castle, using his jetpack to jump over large sections of eroded rock. "You have to get down to the main engine control panel and disconnect the primary turbine from the central energy chamber," Allura told Pidge. "If you can do that, Sendak will have to reset the whole system. That might give us enough time to find a way to stop them." Keith turned off the comms in his suit. 

 

Keith's eyes glowed pink once again. Aiden's blazing form appeared before him again. "Aiden, what can I do to get through the particle barrier?" Keith asked. 

 

Aiden sniffed the particle barrier. "Nothing you know how to do yet."

 

"That means I could learn something. What is it?" Keith frantically asked the calm creature. 

 

"Moving through objects," the wolf stated simply. 

 

Keith waited for more. "How?" he questioned when met with silence. "Did Mom know how to?"

 

"Your mother was unable to perfect the skill, but I think you will." Aiden smiled as much as you can when you're a wolf. 

 

"Again, how exactly?" Keith asked.

 

"Close your eyes, Keith." Keith obeyed. "Touch your hand to the barrier." Keith slowly raised his hand and placed it firmly on the purple barrier. "Imagine yourself becoming one with the barrier. You and it are the only things that exist, and it will bend to your will." Keith's hand began to glow a deep yellow, and he opened his eyes. He glared at the impenetrable force. 

 

And then the light was gone. Keith punched the barrier. "It won't budge." 

 

"Try again, Keith.” Keith lifted his hand to the barrier again. He took a deep breath. 

 

"Patience yields focus," Keith breathed, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration. 

 

"You are an impenetrable force," Aiden stated. "The particle barrier is an impenetrable force. What will give in first? The one who fights, or the one who flees?" 

 

"Aiden, shut up. This isn't the time for your convoluted bullshit," Keith growled.

 

“Language.” Aiden stepped closer to Keith, rubbing her head against Keith's leg. The warmth of Aiden was sent straight to Keith's core, igniting something inside him as he thought. His hand glowed deep yellow once more, this time passing through the barrier slightly. The sun started to rise behind Keith. Keith's wrist began to glow the same yellow as the rest of Keith's hand passed through.

 

A shock ran through Keith’s hand. "Ow!" he cried out, suddenly drawing his hand away from the particle barrier. 

 

"You stopped focusing," Aiden commented.

 

"Damn it!" Keith pounded on the barrier. “Purple Galra shits!” 

 

“Keith, what would your mother say?” Aiden asked.

 

“Don’t judge a person by their peers, ‘cause maybe they don't like them either,” Keith sighed.

 

“There could be Galra that are willing to help Voltron.”

 

“Of course there are. Just like there are some Germans who are not Nazis. Racism is bad, I know. I’ve got to get through the barrier.” Keith pounded on the barrier again. 

 

"Or maybe you should turn on your comms," Aiden suggested. 

 

Keith took his hand away from the barrier, turning on his comms as he sat down on a large rock. "Allura?" Keith asked.

 

"Keith! Where are you? Pidge's comms stopped connecting," Allura's panicked voice came through his helmet. 

 

Keith shot up. "I'm making my way back to you." Aiden nodded as Keith's eyes glowed lime green.

 

"Where did you go, Keith?" Allura asked over the comms.

 

"It's not important. It didn't work," Keith said stiffly.

 

Keith swiftly made the trek back to her. "I have the mice shutting down the barrier. I believe they have almost succeeded." 

 

As if on cue the particle barrier quickly shut down. "They did it!" Allura cheered.

 

Keith and Allura rushed towards the Castle as fast as they could. Allura explained the plan as they sprinted through the Castle, rushing towards the bridge. Keith saw Sendak gripping Pidge tight in his metal hand, lifting her in the air like she weighed nothing. Shiro sat next to an unconscious Lance, barely conscious himself. 

 

Keith quickly drew and activated his bayard, ready to fight. "Stand back!" Sendak commanded. From behind him, Lance drew his bayard, shooting Sendak in the back and swiftly falling motionless, Sendak dropping Pidge in his surprise. 

 

Shiro shot up and ran at him, but was speedily punched away by the monstrous fist. Keith sprinted at the commander, swinging his sword at the arm that was still intact. When Sendak attempted to dodge, Keith kicked his stomach harshly. Keith aimed for the head as he swung again, but Sendak shifted out of the way. Sendak grabbed Keith, and before Keith knew what was happening, Keith was being chucked across the room.

 

Pidge sprinted towards Sendak and used his bayard to cut the connection between his arm and shoulder. "No!" He cried out. He ran forward to kick Pidge.

 

Keith held Sendak within the area of the Galra crystal. "Keith, now!" Allura yelled from the other side of the room. Keith kicked Sendak's chest, launching himself away as a barrier trapped Sendak in. 

 

Sendak pounded on the barrier over and over with his remaining arm.

 

Keith was finally breathing normally again. He walked over to Lance while Pidge cut the cuffs holding Shiro. "Lance, are you okay?" Keith asked, taking the hand of the Blue Paladin and taking a seat next to him. 

 

Lance turned his head and smiled. "We did it. We are a good team." Keith smiled back softly. 

 

_ So he can be mature _ , Keith thought to himself.

 

Keith picked up the lanky boy and began walking to the healing pods with his teammates. When he was sure none of his surrounding teammates were looking, his fingertips glowed lavender, the light sinking into Lance's skin. Keith continued to slowly heal his teammate until Hunk and Coran arrived with the crystal. 

 

"After a day in here, he should be fully healed," Allura said after Lance was put in the pod. Keith silently hoped that that was less time than it could have been. 

 

Shiro, Allura, and Keith turned to Pidge. "Pidge, we can't thank you enough for all you did," Shiro said. "I can't help but feel that you were meant to be a part of our team... but I understand if you want to leave."

 

"Dad used to tell me how close he was with his crew members." Pidge grinned. "They were like family. Now I understand what he was talking about. I'm staying with you guys. Let's stop Zarkon for all of our families," Pidge announced.

 

"Good to have you back on the team." Keith smiled. 


	5. Chapter 5

Keith picked up the necklace. The small pendant glowed softly in the dim light of Keith’s room. Keith held out the pendant for Aiden to inspect. “What do you think? Mom said it was a Balmeran crystal. I thought it was just a weird Earth rock.”

 

Aiden sniffed the object. “It could be either…”

 

“You’re hiding something,” Keith stated, sitting down on his bed.

 

“Izzy never told you who she got the crystal from.”

 

“Maybe she just found it. Have you considered that?”

 

“How would she know what it was called then?”

 

“I don't know! Mom was… she was… she could have…” Keith trailed off.

 

Aiden jumped up and sat on the bed next to Keith. “I miss her too.” She rested her head on Keith’s lap. 

 

Keith continued to recount the events of the day. Aiden eventually hopped off the bed, and Keith started moving around the room in a way that wasn’t quite rhythmic enough to be called pacing.

 

"So, you have a crush," Aiden interrupted. Keith, who had been flopped down on the bed, shot up. 

 

"What? No! Why would you even think that? Just because-" Keith cut himself off. "You don’t understand humans very well. He was behaving weirdly."

 

"How do you know?" Aiden asked. "You don't know him that well."

 

Keith sat there for a moment. "Whatever. I'm going to practice some more," Keith said, standing up and crossing the room.

 

"Don't, Keith. You'll tire yourself out. Go to bed," Aiden told him.

 

Keith threw his hands up. "It's going to come in handy at some point, so why not now?"

 

"Because you are exhausted and anxious. Now go to bed," Aiden stressed, pushing Keith towards the mattress.

 

"Fine.” Keith threw himself onto his mattress. He was quickly joined by Aiden's glowing, fiery body snuggling into his own, and fell into a warm sleep.

 

^*^

 

Lance sat eating, most of his teammates crowded behind him, and Keith sitting on the table in front of him. "Wow. Thanks, everybody," Lance said gratefully. "Sounds like the mice did more than you, though." Lance turned to Keith.

 

"I punched Sendak!" Keith defended.

 

"Yeah, apparently after I emerged from a coma and shot his arm off," Lance countered. 

 

Keith chose to ignore Lance's mistake, seeing as Pidge had cut off Sendak's arm with his bayard. "We had a bonding moment. I cradled you in my arms!"  _ Gosh, that sounded ridiculous _ . Keith groaned internally. 

 

"Nope. Don't remember, didn't happen," Lance claimed, shaking his head. "What did you guys do with Sendak?"

 

"He's frozen in a cryo-pod. We're keeping him here in the Castle," Allura explained.

 

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Lance asked, tilting his head slightly.

 

"It’s not like we’re going to set him free. Besides, we might be able to get some information about Zarkon from him," Allura said. 

 

"So, what's the plan now?" Lance asked. 

 

"We have to get back to the Balmera and save Shay and her people," Hunk declared.

 

"Wow! You are really hung up on this lady," Lance quipped.

 

"No, it's not like that." Hunk shook his head. "Look, guys, when you see how Zarkon has treated these people and destroyed their home -" Hunk paused for a moment. "They've been under his thumb for so long, they don't know what it is to be free. It's up to us to set this right. This is what being a paladin of Voltron is all about. It's time to man up," Hunk announced.

 

Faintly, two mice squeaked from their position on the table. "Then let's get moving. Time to go defend the universe," Shiro said. Everyone began to follow him out the door.

 

"Wait, I have something to say first." Everyone stopped and turned to Pidge at the announcement. "I need to come clean. And I'm afraid this may change the way you all think about me." Pidge looked down at the floor, unable to make eye contact. "Just so there are no secrets between us anymore, I can't 'man up.’ I'm a girl. I-I mean, I can 'man up' because that's just a figure of speech. I don't have to actually be a man to 'man up’." Pidge adjusted her glasses. "I just have to be tough. But what I'm saying -"

 

"W-W-Wha...?!" Pidge jumped at the sound. "You're a girl?! How?!" Lance stuttered, interrupting Pidge's rambling. 

 

"I've known for some time, but I'm glad you've shared it with everyone," Allura confessed. 

 

"Yeah, I figured." Keith had a specific memory of Hunk announcing he had read Pidge's diary.

 

"Oh, yeah, me too," Keith added. He would never tell a soul, but that was a dead lie. 

 

"Wait, we were supposed to think you were a boy?" Coran asked. Yet Keith had heard the man use the male pronoun when referring to Pidge multiple times now, so he knew he was lying, or maybe it was just an Altean thing.

 

"Pidge, owning who you are is going to make you a better paladin," Shiro said. Keith had a feeling that they had already talked about it. 

 

Pidge gave a sigh. "It's good to get that off my chest. Now, let's launch this Castle-ship!" She said, before running out of the room.

 

"Wait, what? Pidge is a girl and the Castle is a ship? How long have I been out?" Lance asked. Lance made a strange face, and Keith put a hand to his mouth, covering his upturned lips.

 

^*^

 

After everyone had gotten in their paladin uniforms and arrived at the bridge, Allura began preparations for launch. Chairs for each of the paladins rose from the floor of the bridge. Each of the paladins sat in their chairs, the color matching their lion and armor. 

 

"Activate interlock," Allura said.

 

"Dynotherms connected," Coran said.

 

"Mega-thrusters are go," Allura said. In Lance and Hunk's opinions, it sounded like they were playing space team. Which they kind of were. 

 

"We are ready to depart Planet Arus on your mark, Princess," Coran said.

 

"Firing main engines for launch," Allura said. 

 

The Castle began moving upwards, in the slightly uncomfortable process of leaving the Arusian atmosphere. Luckily all the Paladins had gone to the garrison and experienced plenty of liftoff training.


	6. Chapter 6

"So, you guys are fighting the Galra?" Keith asked the two aliens and the robot in front of him.

 

"Well, I don't think Zarkon is exactly quaking in his boots at the three of us, but we do what we can. I'm Rolo. This is Nyma, and our cyber-unit, Beezer," Rolo introduced, gesturing to his crewmates. It felt sticky and rehearsed. Keith dismissed the feeling, concluding he must present his crew a lot. 

 

"Hi," Nyma said. 

 

Lance sighed dreamily.

 

"Cool robot!" Pidge said excitedly, examining the machine.

 

"Hi! Name's Lance," Lance flirted, kissing Nyma's hand. Keith glared.

 

Keith didn't exactly want to be here. In his opinion, he had better things to be doing. Like being on the training deck, or literally anything other than watching Lance flirt. Continuously, heavily, obviously, horribly flirt. 

 

^*^

 

"How many ticks have they been gone?" Pidge asked in a bored tone of voice. 

 

"I don't know. I hope they didn't break down again," Allura said.

 

"Something isn’t right," Hunk muttered.

 

Not seconds later Lance’s voice came over the comms, confirming Hunk’s suspicion. "Guys? Hello? Little help?"

 

"Lance? Are you alright? What's going on?" Shiro asked rapidly. 

 

"Well, I'm kind of chained to a tree," Lance said, guilt evident in his voice. 

 

"I knew it!" Hunk cried.

 

"And I think Nyma and Rolo just stole the Blue Lion," Lance said sadly.

 

"I knew it!" Hunk repeated.

 

"Where are they?" Shiro asked.

 

"Space?" Lance said uncertainly. 

 

Hunk rambled about his many reasons for distrusting Nyma and Rolo all the way to the lions. Keith interrupting him many times with an, "Okay, we get it!" Hunk only stopped when everyone else joined in. 

 

Good news, they soon caught up to the runaway ship. Bad news, it was entering an asteroid belt.

 

"We'll never get through this asteroid field!" Pidge claimed. 

 

"Maybe I can just bust through!" Hunk suggested, flying into an asteroid. The asteroid he hit smashed into another asteroid, causing a chain reaction that sent a bunch of asteroids to move around, and towards Hunk. "Nope. That was wrong. Bad idea."

 

"Keith, you're the only one who could possibly fly through this. We need you, buddy. Get in there and flush him out," Shiro ordered. 

 

"You got it. See you on the other side." Keith smiled. The Red Lion swiftly shot forward through the asteroid belt. Keith skillfully dodged through the large asteroids, chasing after Rolo and Nyma. Soon Keith was right on their tail but suddenly found lasers speeding towards him as he flew. 

 

"Dammit," Keith thought as he dodged the new projectiles. Keith quickly gained on them. They slipped out of the Red Lion’s grasp once again when they made a hasty turn right before an asteroid. Keith dodged the asteroids and set a jawblade at their weapons system.

 

The ship continuously changed its route until the edge of the asteroid field, attempting to speed away. Keith blasted one of their rear thrusters, sending them spiraling. Keith quickly caught up to them, latching onto the back of their ship, stopping it from moving with the Red Lion's thrusters. The other lions surrounded the vehicle. 

 

"Yeah!" Keith cheered, chuckling. "Hey, Lance, I got your lion back," he told the Blue Paladin.

 

"Thank you, Keith. Now, can you come and unchain me?" Lance requested over the comms.

 

"What's that? I, uh... You're cutting out. I can't... I can't hear you," Keith jokingly lied. 

 

"Oh, come on! I thought we bonded. Keith? Buddy? My man?" 

 

Keith rolled his eyes at the statement.

 

^*^

 

The next day they all were gathered on the bridge. 

 

“Besides,” Hunk said, “we can't just shoot at the Galra. This Balmera, it's, like, alive. And from what we've seen, it doesn't look very good.” Keith crossed his arms.

 

“Yes, it's an atrocity what the Galra have been doing to this grand beast,” Coran said. “Stealing its crystals, its very life force, without ever performing the energy rejuvenation ceremonies to heal it.” A screen opened that looked like two people around a large crystal. Keith wondered if he could help heal the Balmera. Could he do it without hurting himself? Healing a person took enough energy, but what about a whole planet? He decided to ask Aiden as soon as he could. 

 

“After seeing Shay's people enslaved,” Hunk started. “I realized just how bad Zarkon really is. And we're the only ones who can stop him.”

 

“We can't go into the tunnels guns blazing. Plan B. We figure out how to draw the Galra up to the surface and battle them out there,” Shiro said.

 

“If we attack all of this big mining stuff on the surface, the Galra troops will have to come out to defend it. Then we beat them up, head down to the tunnels, and save the day,” Hunk suggested.

 

“But how will we know how many are left in the tunnels?” Keith debated.

 

“We can track the Galra and the Balmerans using Biothermal Life Indicator Point Technology,” Allura said.

 

“Oh, BLIP tech!” Allura looked at Pidge with either disgust or confusion. “It's an acronym,” She explained.

 

“One of you will need to fly around the Balmera and drop sensors into the shafts on each side. Then we'll be able to see where the Galra and the Balmerans are. There are already sensors built into your suits.” A large map of the Balmera was shown on the screen. The creature was full of intricate tunnels.

 

“I can do it. I just modified the Green Lion with the invisible maze's cloaking ability. I should be able to fly around unnoticed.”

 

“That's their main power generator. If you take that down, it will severely weaken their defenses,” Coran said as an image of Galra technology popped up on the screen.

 

“We'll stay in cloud cover and give tactical support. With the Castle's defenses weakened from Sendak's crystal, we won't be of much help to you,” Allura said. 

 

“I'll take out the power generator. Keith, Lance, Hunk, you take out these big mining rigs around the area.”

 

And with that, they had a plan. They all rushed to their lions as Allura and Coran piloted the Castle towards the atmosphere.

 

Keith stopped before getting into the Red Lion, choosing now to summon Aiden. “Is there any way I can heal the Balmera?” Keith asked quickly.

 

“Keith, you should not attempt to heal the creature. The damage done to the Balmera is the equivalent of healing half a billion severely injured people. You don't have that kind of power or energy,” Aiden warned. 

 

Keith stiffened. “I’m going to at least try to help.”

 

“Do not attempt to. The creature is too large and too close to death for you to heal. Not even a little. You aren’t very good at limiting your healing. You could do too much without realizing,” Aiden lectured. 

 

“Yeah, I get that, but-”

 

“No buts, Keith!” Aiden cut him off. “You’ll hurt yourself and get caught.”

 

“Okay,” Keith gave in. Aiden jumped onto Keith, licking his face.

 

Keith laughed. “Go save that planet,” Aiden said happily.

 

Keith’s eyes glowed green as he stepped inside the Red Lion. “What took you so long?” Lance asked when Keith sat down.

 

“It’s not important. Let’s go.”


	7. Chapter 7

“The entire hangar's only being guarded by a few sentries,” Keith noted. “Let's go!” He drew his bayard and shot forward, but stopped when his shoulder was grabbed. 

 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Cool your jets, Keith! Don't you remember that stuff about this Balmera thing being a sensitive animal?” Lance lectured. Keith pouted. Of course he remembered. 

 

Keith tisked, realizing what would have happened. 

 

“Yeah, so you can't just blow things up like a psycho,” Lance said. 

 

“You got a better idea?” Keith asked.

 

“I do.” Lance smiled. “We sneak into the control room to shut down the bay doors.” Lance pointed across the hanger. “That'll trap the ships in.”

 

“That…” Keith paused, trying to find a fault in the plan. “actually  _ is _ a better idea.”

 

Keith and Lance began crossing one of the thin catwalks that stretched over the hanger, trying to keep low and out of the guard’s peripherals. Soon, they were above the control room. 

 

“No, no. It's over here,” Lance whispered. 

 

“I know what I'm doing,” Keith bit back.

 

Keith cut a circle in the metal above where the guard should be standing. Lance pushed the circle down when he jumped on it, crashing down on the guard and knocking them unconscious.

 

“Keep an eye out for those guards. I'll see if I can find a way to shut the hangar doors,” Lance said, examining the control panel. “Uh... Hmm. Nope. Maybe. Uh... Uh... Mm…” Lance muttered to himself. Lance tapped some buttons at the bottom of the screen with no effect. Keith glanced over from where he was keeping watch when he heard Lance groan. “I don't know what I'm doing here. It's all Galra gibberish,” Lance complained. 

 

“Let me see,” Keith said, walking over. 

 

After a few seconds of looking at the screen, he recognized something that could be a handprint. When he put his hand on it the computer beeped and the hangar doors closed. “Whoa! How'd you do that?” Lance asked, impressed. 

 

“I just put my hand on the handprint,” Keith explained simply. 

 

“It doesn’t really look like a handprint, more like random squiggles,” Lance said.

 

“Paladins, are you there?” Allura interrupted. “The Galra troops are moving down the tunnels. It looks like they're going down toward the center.” 

 

“They must be headed to the core of the Balmera. That's where they're holding Shay,” Hunk said over the comms. 

 

“They're drawing us into an ambush, but we don't have a choice if we want to save Shay,” Shiro said. “We have to follow. Lance, Keith, get to the core. I think we're going to need everyone together to get through this firefight.”

 

“Copy that. We're on our way,” Lance said. Keith sliced through the control panel as they began making their way to the core.

 

Lance shot the panel to open the door, and they began running through the tunnels. “Hey, team, be careful. The Balmera is very unstable,” Pidge warned over the comms. 

 

^*^

 

As they walked further into the Balmera, Lance and Keith had to dodge out of the way as lasers began to fire at them. “Their shooting is destroying the Balmera. We gotta do something,” Keith said. He placed his hand behind him. His fingertips glowed purple, healing the creature. 

 

“Well, we can't shoot back. It'll just make it worse.” Lance looked around for a moment, before making strange gestures with his hand and clicking his tongue.

 

Keith looked at him in confusion and pulled his hand away from the Balmera. Aiden was right. There was a lot to be done. “What?” Keith raised his eyebrows together. He looked around, noticing a ladder next to him. He looked at Lance and pointed to it with his thumb. 

 

As Keith climbed the ladder, Lance jumped out of his hiding spot. Wiggling his arms, he made his presence known to the Galra soldiers. Keith crawled onto a ledge above as the soldiers began to shoot at Lance. Lance yelped and crouched behind his shield. 

 

Keith jumped down, activating his bayard and surprising the soldiers. He sliced through them one by one, destroying the last by throwing his sword. Lance stood up from behind his shield, deactivating it and flashing him a grin and a thumbs up. 

 

They continued to the center of the Balmera. Keith walked behind Lance through the narrowing tunnel, fingers trailing purple as they walked.

 

“I have a question for you,” Lance said.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“What was up with the flashlight thing the other night?” 

 

“It was just your imagination,” Keith stated. 

 

Lance swiftly turned around. Keith swiped his hand away from the wall. “You have got to be kidding. You had a flashlight. I watched you for like five minutes!”

 

“Focus on the mission. This isn’t important,” Keith said, taking the lead. 

 

^*^

 

As soon as they all got to the core the doors shut behind them. 

 

“Not an ambush. More like a trap,” Hunk said.

 

“Whatever it is, keep your hecking guard up,” Keith said. 

 

“The Galra, they gained knowledge that you would return to the Balmera,” Shay said. 

 

“How?” Pidge asked.

 

“I know not. But they set this trap just for you. I was the bait,” Shay explained. 

 

“Who could have possibly known that we were heading here to save Shay?” Shiro asked.

 

“Rolo! Those liars must have told Zarkon,” Hunk grumbled. 

 

Keith leaned against a wall of the Balmera, his fingertips glowing purple behind his back. “We have to figure out how to get out of here,” Shiro said.

 

“Wait! We have a giant Castle ship hovering in the sky. Allura, can you please come get us?” Lance asked, pressing the comms button down on his suit. 

 

“How do you expect her to do that, genius?” Keith asked. His head was starting to hurt. He noticed a large crystal forming where his hand was.

 

“I don't know! Maybe they have teleporters or something.”

 

“This isn’t a sci-fi movie-” Keith started.

 

“We're quite occupied at the moment,” Allura grunted over the comms. “We're completely surrounded by Galra ships and we're taking heavy fire! Paladins, you need to get out of there as soon as you can!” Allura commanded through the comms. 

 

“This is it! We're going to die in here,” Lance whined.

 

“Get it together, guys,” Shiro said. “Allura, we'll get there as soon as possible.”

 

Keith removed his hand from the wall. He felt like he hadn’t had water all day. “Perhaps my people can help us get out,” Shay said. “This is how we communicate. The Balmera senses our vibrations and sends a message to those in the tunnels,” She explained. 

 

Shay put her hand on the wall, and the Balmera made a moaning sound that lasted a long time. 

 

“Paladins, the lions are in danger! You must get back to them immediately!” Allura warned over the comms. “Paladins, do you copy? There's a battlecruiser locked onto us. If it fires with its ion cannon, I don't know if we can survive.”

 

“We're trying, Allura,” Lance said. “Shay's pressing her hand against a wall, which apparently sends vibrations to the other rock people, who vibrate back or something? Hand talking? I guess the answer to your question is, 'Yes, we copy.'”

 

“Shay, are you sure the Balmera is sending your message?” Shiro stressed.

 

One of the doors started shaking, and a screech of metal being crushed swam through the room. “Rax!” Shay shouted as the Balmera stopped crushing the door. 

 

“We must make haste. We know a shortcut through the tunnels.” Rax turned and ran, signaling the paladins to follow.

 

“Allura, standby. We're on our way up,” Shiro said.

 

Everyone rushed out of the room, heading to their lions. Keith's head was pounding. He really regretted not listening to Aiden. Keith and Lance jumped into the pods and hurried towards their lions. At the end of the tunnel, they saw their lions, shields up, slowly being lifted off the ground.

 

“Paladins, hurry! They're taking off with the lions!” Allura shouted over the comms.

 

Keith sped under the Red Lion and shot up in the pod. 

 

“Guys, did everyone make it to the lions in time?” Shiro asked as Keith took his seat. 

 

Shiro was answered by all the lions joining him in flight. But Lance still answered. “Come on, Shiro. Who you think you're dealing with, a bunch of amateurs?” Lance yelped as he ran into a Galra mining installation. 

 

“Do you really want me to answer that?” Shiro asked. Keith heard the smile in his voice. 

 

“No,” Lance groaned. 

 

Keith’s head still stung. He considered seeing what would happen if he tried to heal himself now. He was trying to remember what Aiden had said one night about magical energy. What was it? Magic energy is like the kind you get from sleep. Or was it like the energy from food?

 

Keith shook off the thought. He couldn’t do anything about it now.

 

“Let's go!” Shiro said, and the five lions blasted towards the ships. 

 

^*^

 

“Please tell me there's not a giant monster in there. Please tell me it's empty! Or full of space candy. One of those two. Either one is fine,” Hunk rambled.

 

“I don't think it's a piñata, Hunk,” Lance commented.

 

“If it's anything like the monster on Arus, we already know how to beat it,” Keith said, though he seriously doubted that it was the same monster. He shoved his bayard into its slot and turned it. 

 

“What if we cut through the pod before it opened?” Pidge suggested. 

 

“Right now?” Shiro asked.

 

“Yes, right now! Before it hurts anybody!” Pidge stressed. 

 

“Okay! Let’s go!” Shiro said. 

 

Voltron launched forward, just as steam began to hiss out of the coffin. The sides of the coffin dropped away right before Voltron’s sword sliced through it, cutting the monster clean in half. Well, not so clean. “Ewwwww!” Lance, Keith, and Hunk said in unison. Blood squished out of the slain beast.

 

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Voltron dismantled, and everyone landed their lions on the surface. As everyone exited their lions, Allura landed the Castle.


	8. Chapter 8

Hunk looked cheerful as he embraced Shay. Then, everyone froze when the ground began to shake vigorously. A great moan of pain erupted from the ground they stood on. Keith looked around the now cracked surface of the Balmera. “What’s going on?” He asked. 

 

“That great noise comes from the Balmera itself. Our home crumbles beneath our feet. The Balmera is dying,” Rax said. 

 

“Its core will collapse, destabilizing the entire skeletal structure. Anything or anyone remaining on the Balmera at that point will be crushed into dust,” Coran explained, panic attempting to etch into his voice.

 

“What can we do?” Hunk asked.

 

“We'll evacuate the planet. We need to get all the Balmerans to the Castle of Lions before the planet implodes.” 

 

“Wait!” Shay interrupted. “Perhaps there is a way to save our Balmera.”

 

Shay’s grandmother nodded.“Look at where the Castle has landed. The essence of our Balmera thrives.”

 

“How is this possible?” Allura asked.

 

Keith stopped paying attention to the conversation as his headache continued. True, he could miss something important, but he wasn’t exactly zoning out on purpose. Keith rubbed his forehead, suddenly pushed out of his thoughts by a voice. “You good, Keith?” Lance asked.

 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Keith lied. 

 

“You’re not a very good liar,” Lance said. Heck Lance and his ability to read Keith. 

 

“Really, I’m fine, Lance,” Keith said as the Balmera moaned again. Screw headaches; Keith did not want this Balmera to crumble beneath his feet. So Keith wandered off to the nearest spike in the Balmera, fully ready to heal the beast when he found that Lance had followed him. “What do you want, Lance?” Keith grumbled. 

 

“What if I just want to hang out with my bud, Keefy? Did you think of that?” Lance asked.

 

“Then go hang out with Hunk. The ground we are standing on is dying,” Keith said.

 

“What if I want to hang out with you?” Lance asked, ignoring the last part of Keith’s comment.

 

“Go away, Lance. I’ve got a headache,” Keith complained.

 

“There we go! That's what’s wrong.” Lance smiled. “Too bad we don’t have ibuprofen in space, though maybe Coran could make something…”

 

“No, I’m fine,” Keith said. “You can leave now.”

 

Lance glanced back to the group of people surrounding the castle. “Oh, Allura’s about to do the ritual, come watch.” Lance grabbed Keith’s arm and began to drag him. 

 

Keith followed, asking, “What ritual?” 

 

“Weren’t you paying attention? Allura is going to save the Balmera!” Lance said excitedly. 

 

“I kind of zoned out.” Keith put a hand on his forehead.

 

“Your headache is that bad?” Lance asked. Keith denied hearing any worry in his voice.

 

“No… Yeah.” Lance put a comforting hand on Keith’s shoulder. “Don’t touch me,” Keith said, shaking his hand off. 

 

“Sorry. I was just-” Lance started.

 

“Stop, it's nothing against you. Don’t act like it is. It's just a thing I have about touching,” Keith cut him off.

 

“Okay.” Lance put his arms behind his back. “Oh, Allura is starting!” Lance cheered.

 

Allura was stationed under the Castle, while Balmerans surrounded it on all sides. Blue light erupted from under Allura and quickly spread across the ground. Soon the light had spread as far a Keith could see. Slowly the light vanished, replaced with blue crystals speckling far and wide. “You did it!” Lance cheered, spinning in a circle. 

 

Allura smiled. “We all did.” 

 

Keith supposed this could be true, in some light. He couldn’t really think though, his headache still hadn’t ceased. 

 

^*^

 

They had all gone straight from talking to the Balmerans, to debriefing what had happened, to dinner. Keith had found no time to do anything to make his headache stop. Keith quickly drank a pouch of water and grabbed another. Coran had served everyone some food goo. The slimy jello mass sat unappealing on his plate. “You still got a headache?” Lance asked before shoveling a spoon of the goo in his mouth. 

 

“Yeah,” Keith said casually.

 

“You wanna get Coran to do something about it?” Lance asked.

 

“No, it’s fine,” Keith said, shoveling his own goo in his mouth. He swallowed uncomfortably, the goo leaving an unpleasant aftertaste.

 

“If you say so,” Lance said huffily. 

 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Keith asked.

 

“It means that it's not actually okay,” Lance said, raising his voice a little.

 

“How are you supposed to know?” Keith said, raising his own voice in retaliation. 

 

“What’s going on over there, you two?” Shiro asked from the other end of the table.

 

“Nothing.” Keith and Lance groaned. 

 

Keith took another bite of food goo and excused himself from the table. He just wanted to talk to Aiden, but  _ someone  _ had to follow him. He decided to ignore the footsteps and continue to his room.

 

As soon as the door closed behind him and he was about to summon Aiden, he got a knock on his door. “What do you want, Lance?” Keith asked grumpily through the closed doors. 

 

The doors opened revealing the tall boy. “I’m just making sure you’re okay. Geez.” 

 

“You could have done that the entire time I was walking. I heard you following me.” 

 

“Why didn’t you turn around then?” He asked tauntingly.

 

“Because I thought it would make you leave me alone. Go away.” 

 

“Alright, geez. I’m going,” Lance said. “Take care of yourself Keithy boy.” Lance turned and walked away, the door closing after him. 

 

Keith groaned and leaned on the door, sliding down to the floor. His eyes glowed pink, and his fiery companion burned bright blue. Uh oh. Immediately he was gently bitten on the leg. “Ow!” Keith yelped. “What was that for?” 

 

“You are a fucking idiot!” Aiden yelled, inaudible to anyone but Keith. 

 

Keith gasped. “Mom, she swore!” Keith stood up and crossed the room, dramatically falling onto his bed. “Yeah, I am an idiot.”

 

“Why didn’t you listen?” Aiden demanded. 

 

“Because the Balmera was dying.” Keith sat up.

 

“You could have died, Keith!” Aiden lectured. “Allura handled it just fine. Her species has evolved to be able to heal these creatures.”

 

“Allura could have died too!” Keith argued. “If I hadn’t helped, she could have died.”

 

“Yeah, but she knew what she was doing. She knew how to stop,” Aiden growled. “You, on the other hand, are a dumb fuck who will heal something more than they are physically capable of by accident!”

 

“That’s not fair! I-” Just then the door opened. Keith stared at the intruder and his eyes flashed lime green.

 

“Who are you talking to?” Lance asked. Keith released a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Lance hadn’t seen her.

 

“No one!” Keith bit out. “Leave me alone.”

 

“Why are you all weird and jumpy all of a sudden?” Lance asked.

 

“Go away, Lance. It’s not nice to come into a person’s room without knocking.”

 

“Yeah, yeah, I was just looking for Hunk.” Lance waved him off. “Go back to talking to yourself or whatever.” And with that, Lance left. 

 

Keith’s eyes flashed pink. “He didn’t see you.”

 

Aiden sighed as her flame cooled to an orange. “You need to be more careful.”

 

“I know…” Keith trailed off. “My head hurts.”

 

“You’re a fucking idiot. Put on your mom’s necklace, and get some rest. From what I can remember it could heal Izzy, but not anyone else. You should feel better when you wake up,” Aiden ordered, her flame having cooled to a red. 

 

Keith got up from the bed and crossed the room. He picked up the necklace on his nightstand. He slid the long string over his head and turned out the light. As he laid down on his bed, Aiden hopped up next to him, laying her head on his arm. Soon, they both fell fast asleep. Keith wrapped himself around his fiery friend.


	9. Chapter 9

Keith slipped out of bed, eyes flashing green. He tore off the tab at the bottom of the previous day’s date. Today’s date was the twenty-first of October. Keith, however, wasn’t paying attention to that detail as he slipped into the shower. He usually showered at night, but headaches caused by magical overexertion don’t really put you in the mood to shower.

 

^*^

 

“Is your headache any better?” Lance asked as they followed Coran to where Sendak was being held.

 

“Yeah, all better,” Keith said curtly.

 

“Dios mío, Keith. Are you just incapable of experiencing friendship?” Lance asked.

 

“What if I don't want to?” Keith said.

 

“You mean you are doing this on purpose?” Lance asked. “Why?”

 

“What makes you think I’m going to tell you?” 

 

“C’mon, Keith! I’m making an effort here,” Lance said.

 

“Sure you are.”

 

“You know you’re being-”

 

“Pay attention,” Keith cut him off.

 

“Okay, guys,” Coran said. “Sendak's almost all hooked up. But, look, I have to warn you. This technology was used to keep Altean memories alive, not to interrogate prisoners.”

 

“Why does this even work on Galra? Aren’t you guys a completely different species?” Pidge asked.

 

Coran launched into an explanation of the technology, and Keith really couldn’t care less. His thoughts began to drift from one thing to another. He started to think about Daniel, someone he used to call a friend.

 

Daniel was fun to be around. He was nice and his mom made snacks. What more could a seven-year-old want? So Keith told him about being a witch. It didn’t go over as well as he thought it would. Keith’s mom and he ended up moving, and Keith got a long lecture about trust.

 

It was then that Keith decided not to trust anyone enough to tell them. Nothing could go wrong if no one knew. And no one knowing meant no one to teach him after his mom died.

 

Aiden wasn’t exactly the best teacher. She could only do so much. You can’t exactly demonstrate a spell when you are a wolf made of magical fire. Keith hadn’t even perfected the first spell he learned. He hadn’t perfected any spells. When his mother healed him there were symbols that appeared, it seemed like they meant that the spell was strong. Her fingers didn’t just glow. The same symbols would appear when she would light a fire, or when she cast any spell that she had perfected. 

 

When they were traveling in the old truck, she cast a shield over the cargo bed to keep the rain off of her few spell books. 

 

“When I go, I want all the stuff in my brain stored in a giant ship,” Lance said, shocking Keith out of his thoughts.

 

“The amount of information in your head could be stored in an opened can of beans,” Keith said dryly.

 

“Oh, yeah? Well, the amount of information you have, Keith, could be…” Lance trailed off.

 

“Yeah?” Keith prompted.

 

“Uh... it's less than what I have!” Lance exclaimed.

 

“Oh, good one, Lance!” Hunk cheered.

 

Keith was so done with this shit. Pidge bounced around Coran asking various questions as Coran started up the machine. After a few minutes of waiting around Keith gave up.

 

“Well, I can't wait around anymore. If you need me I’ll be on the training deck,” Keith announced.

 

^*^

 

Keith pitched a fireball at the gladiator, almost missing it entirely, barely grazing its shoulder. The spell was for lighting firewood, not chucking at attackers. “Dammit,” Keith groaned. He activated his bayard and swung at the gladiator, quickly blocking and dodging its attacks. He ran across the training deck and summoned another flame. He pitched it at the gladiator, missing once again. 

 

Keith sprinted towards the gladiator, dodged under its blade, and sliced through its form. “Dammit,” Keith groaned again. he had wanted to take down the drone with magic. “Start training level four,” He told the room.

 

A gladiator dropped down from the ceiling of the training deck and sprinted towards Keith. Keith swung quickly, his sword blocking the gladiator’s. Sparks flew as the metals collided. The gladiator launched Keith across the room, Keith easily regaining his balance. “End training sequence,” He commanded. The gladiator continued moving towards him. “End training sequence!” Keith said in a panicked voice as the gladiator began to sprint.

 

The gladiator knocked Keith’s bayard out of his hand, sending it flying across the room. It advanced on Keith quickly, sending a firm kick into his chest. Keith summoned a fireball as he stood up. He sprinted towards his bayard, sending fireball after fireball in the direction of the gladiator. He slid out of the room.

 

Keith breathed a heavy sigh as he shut the door to the training deck and leaned against the wall. A sword pierced through the door, spearing it open. Keith shot back from the wall, sprinting down the hallway. Keith’s eyes glowed pink as he rounded a corner. Aiden’s orange form joined him as he ran. “Eleven,” Keith heard a robotic voice say in the distance. As he grew closer to the sound he also heard the muffled cries of “Help, help!” and pounding on metal. “Ten,” the robotic voice said. 

 

“I’ll distract the gladiator, you get Lance out,” Aiden commanded. 

 

“Nine.” Keith blocked the gladiator’s attack and was kicked to the ground. 

 

“Eight.” Aiden lunged at the gladiator, distracting it from Keith.

 

“Seven.” Keith bolted up.

 

“Six.” Keith ran to the airlock. 

 

“Five.” Keith ducked under the gladiator’s sword.

 

“Four.” Aiden jumped onto the gladiator, pushing it to the ground, unfortunately taking Keith with her. 

 

“Three.” Keith shot up from the ground.

 

“Two.” Keith hesitated. If he waited, the gladiator could be dealt with as well. 

 

“One. Doors opening.”

 

Lance screamed. As fast as she could, Aiden melted the gladiator’s leg and pushed him towards the doors. Keith pushed the button at the same time his eyes flashed lime green. The gladiator flew out into the void as Aiden disappeared from sight. 

 

Trying not to get sucked into space, Keith leaned towards Lance, extending his hand. “Keith!” Lance shrieked. “Come on!” Keith grabbed Lance and pulled him back onto the ship, closing the airlock. 

 

Keith sat down, panting. “What were you doing out there?” Keith rushed out. 

 

“This castle is trying to kill me! What was with that gladiator?” Lance asked in a panicked voice.

 

“It was malfunctioning!” Keith said, still out of breath.

 

“Panicking is exhausting,” Lance complained, flopping down on the floor.

 

“Hear, hear,” Keith said, flopping down beside him.


	10. Chapter 10

Keith flopped down on his bed, summoning Aiden. “Hey,” she said. “is-”

 

Keith cut her off. “No. Tired. Time for sleep.” He kicked off his shoes as Aiden gave a sigh and jumped on Keith’s bed. 

 

Aiden rested near Keith, who buried his face in his pillow. It was silent for a while, but Aiden had something to say. “You must be more careful. Lance might start getting suspicious. You do too much magic with him around.”

 

Keith groaned into his pillow. “I don't want to talk about this right now. It's been a really long day.”

 

“Keith, you used to be so much better at hiding it! The year in the desert-” 

 

“If by ‘hiding it’ you mean ‘not using it for six years straight and not talking to you ever,’ then yes, I was much better at hiding it,” Keith interrupted. “You can’t get caught if you don't do anything.”

 

“Keith, no one was around you for almost a year…” Aiden trailed off. 

 

“I just want to sleep. Can we please drop this until morning?” Keith asked, half-muffled by the pillow. 

 

“Okay, Keith,” Aiden agreed. “Sleep tight.”

 

^*^

 

Keith pushed away at the hot nose pressed to his face. “Stop,” he groaned. It pushed again, and Keith shot up. “Fine, what do you want?”

 

“We need to come up with a plan to-” Aiden started.

 

“Not right now,” Keith interrupted. 

 

“You said morning. It’s morning,” Aiden said. 

 

Keith petted her head, his eyes flashed lime green, and Aiden was no longer there. He got out of bed and tore off the tab on the calendar page. He stared at the date momentarily before heading to breakfast. 

 

No one was there when he arrived, and after five minutes of waiting, he headed to the training deck. Someone, namely Shiro, usually found him when everyone was awake.

 

^*^

 

The day had been slow. Nothing much had happened. Keith spent his time on the training deck while Pidge sorted through Sendak’s memories. Hunk had asked Keith to join Lance, Allura, Coran, Shiro, and himself in an activity that Keith didn’t remember. 

 

And now, Keith flopped down on his bed, his hair still wet from his shower. It was late; at least he thought it was. It was hard to tell in space. Keith’s eyes glowed pink and Aiden appeared on the bed next to him. 

 

“I think you should stop practicing spells on the training deck,” Aiden said calmly. 

 

“But I’m shit at-” Keith started exasperatedly.

 

“Keith, you are better at sword fighting than magic. Focus on that skill and no one will know,” She cut him off.

 

“Who’s fault is it that I’m shit at magic? Oh right! Yours.”

 

“Keith, you can’t blame this on me. There was no way to practice at the Garrison. We’re getting off track,” Aiden said placatingly. “I know you think you can help like this, but I think you are just going to get hurt.”

 

“They’re my friends, Aiden. They have proven that much, even if I’ve only known them for a week,” Keith said.

 

“And you’ve known Shiro for six years! What difference does time make?” Aiden asked critically.

 

“It’s a different situation!” Keith exclaimed. “We are fighting a war, Aiden, and we have to give it our all.”

 

Aiden exhaled. “Just,” she paused, calculating her words. “Be more careful, Keith. Lance seems like a smart person. He might figure it out.”

 

“I know,” Keith sighed. 

 

“Okay, Keith. Time to sleep…”

 

^*^

 

_ Keith's mother slinked into his room. "Happy birthday, Akaria," his mother said, waking him up. Aiden followed her into the room, jumping onto his bed. _

 

_ Keith glanced at the clock by his side. "4:04 AM" he read. _

 

_ "You are eight as of a few seconds ago." She smiled. Keith smiled back.  _

 

_ His mother cupped her hands. They glowed a bright blue, and summoning symbols hovered above her palms. A balloon flower fell into her hands as the symbols vanished, glowing brightly. She took the flower and slid it behind Keith’s ear. Balloon flowers were always her favorite. Keith didn't really know why.  _

 

_ "I have a gift for you," Keith's mother said with a sad smile.  _

 

_ "Are you sad?" Keith asked. _

 

_ She shook her head. Keith couldn’t tell if she was saying “no” or “nevermind”. Aiden glared up at Keith’s mother. Keith thought Aiden was probably talking to her. _

 

_ "Open it," she said, handing him a small package wrapped in newspaper.  _

 

_ He ripped off the newspaper and unfolded the box flaps. A dagger lay at the bottom of the box. A purple gem, with a large carving, sat embedded in its handle. He slowly picked up the dagger. Aiden licked the side of his face. “Hey! Stop it!” he giggled. _

 

_ "I’m going to tell you a story, Keith." Keith was shocked to hear that name come out of her mouth, and that was what woke him the rest of the way up. Aiden cuddled up next to Keith, placing her head on his lap. "Once there was a woman. This woman was- is wonderful. She used to own this knife." _

 

_ "Was she a witch too?" Keith asked, examining the dagger. _

 

_ "Not in the slightest," his mother chuckled, looking off at nothing. "She was and still is, a warrior, and a good one at that. You could even call her a knight. One day she came to me. She fell from the heavens." His mother chuckled again. "We fell in love. I helped her on her quest for as long as I could. I had you in the process." She smiled down at her son, cradling his face in her hands. Keith's eyes studied his mother's face. "One day I couldn't help with her quest anymore. Her quest had changed. She wasn’t just fighting for herself anymore; she was fighting for you and I as well. She gave me this," His mother gestured to the knife Keith held. "And she asked me to give it to you. Your mother had to leave you, Keith, but she loves you very much. We both do," Keith's mother explained. _

 

_ Keith sat there confused for a moment, studying the dagger in his hands. "What about Dad?" He looked up at his mother. _

 

_ “It’s late, dear. You should go back to bed. I’ll tell you about him in the morning,” his mother said. _

 

_ “Can you stay in here with me?” Keith asked. _

 

_ “Of course, Akaria.” Izzy smiled, taking the knife from Keith and placing it on the small table by his bed. Keith scooted over near the wall, and Aiden shuffled down to rest by their feet as Izzy scooched into Keith’s bed. Soon they lay fast asleep.  _

 

^*^

 

Keith shot up in bed. “Happy birthday, Akaria,” Aiden said, pushing herself closer to him. Keith sat there, mostly frozen, as the tears welled in his eyes and began to drip down his face. 

 

Keith was breathing heavily when he got out of bed. Knowing no one would be awake, he headed to the training deck. Through blurry eyes, he realized Aiden was following him. She might have been trying to talk to him, but there was a humming in his ears like he was under tons of water and his brain was fragmented. His eyes briefly flashed lime green and Aiden vanished. Memories rushed through him as he ran. God, he missed her. It had been so long. 

 

Keith quickly arrived at the training deck and began to breathe more evenly. “Start training level two,” he said. A gladiator dropped from the ceiling and charged at him. Keith charged back, swinging his fist at the robot. It skillfully dodged the punch, swinging its staff at Keith’s legs. Keith jumped over the staff and threw another punch at the gladiator. He knew how unsafe this was, and he knew he could get really hurt, but right now, he just needed to punch something.


	11. Chapter 11

Lance has seen some weird shit since he became a paladin. Keith seemed to be the main cause of the shit he found weird enough to question. He didn't question that there was an immortal, power-crazy alien emperor hell-bent on conquering the universe. He didn't question the two aliens who had been asleep for ten thousand years while said emperor conquered the universe. He didn't question the once thought to be dead paladin, Takashi Shirogane, crash-landing on Earth and creating a chain of events that had the five of them to find the Blue Lion. 

 

What he did question was why Keith's fingers had glowed when he had carried Lance to the pod. He questioned why Keith's fingers glowed the same way on the Balmera. He most certainly questioned why Keith's eyes shone green sometimes. And he was definitely questioning why the hell Keith was sprinting down the hallway in the dark at God knows what hour of the morning, sounding kind of like he was crying. What the hell was this guy up to?

 

So what did Lance do? He followed the suspicious paladin and ended up on the training deck. And there was Keith, fighting a gladiator with his bare hands, half crying in the dim light of the castle's night cycle. He also saw Keith getting thoroughly beaten up. 

 

Lance didn’t know what to do. Keith was obviously hurting. Maybe he had a nightmare. Lance quickly ran through his options, finally settling on getting Shiro. He sprinted away from the training deck to Shiro’s room and loudly knocked on Shiro’s door. Hopefully, Shiro wouldn’t mind that it was four in the goddamn morning or some shit. 

 

Shiro came to the door. He didn’t look too tired, but he did look like he was recently asleep. “What is it, Lance?” Shiro asked.

 

“It’s Keith,” Lance huffed, slightly out of breath from sprinting. “He’s fighting a gladiator, with his bare hands.” Shiro began to quickly walk towards the training deck. “He looks like he’s crying. I didn’t know what to do.” 

 

“Thank you for telling me,” Shiro said with a small smile. 

 

^*^

 

“End training sequence,” Shiro said when they got to the training deck.

 

Keith looked just about dead. The gladiator jumped back into the ceiling, and Keith was bent over, hands on his knees, completely out of breath. “Keith,” Shiro said. Keith looked up at the sound.

 

Lance still stood in the doorway of the training deck, watching the interaction. Keith looked so different than Lance ever remembered. His face was wet. He looked like he was in so much pain. He mumbled something that Lance couldn’t hear before rushing the short distance between himself and Shiro and hugging him. Lance tilted his head. He’d never really seen Keith hug someone. 

 

Shiro began guiding Keith out of the training deck, arm wrapped firmly around his shoulders. Lance got out of the doorway, following them back to Keith’s room at a safe distance. Lance stayed in the hallway, and Shiro soon exited Keith’s room. He looked surprised that Lance was there. “Soooo, what happened?” Lance asked. 

 

“I don’t really think that’s for me to say, Lance,” Shiro said. “Thank you for coming to me, though. You did the right thing.”

 

Lance inhaled. Should he mention his other concerns? “I think there’s something off about Keith,” Lance said quickly. 

 

“What do you mean? I’ve known Keith for years,” Shiro defended.

 

“Oh, yeah. You have. I guess it’s just me being paranoid,” Lance lied. “Can you really not tell me what was happening?”

 

“I really don’t think he wants you to know,” Shiro said with an apologetic tone. “Let’s get back to bed.”

 

“Yeah, sure.” Lance started towards his room, waving a hand over his shoulder.

 

“I mean it, Lance,” Shiro said. “Please don’t pressure him about this.” It almost sounded like he was pleading, but not quite.

 

“Of course,” Lance said as he reached his door. He turned back to Shiro, to find he hadn’t moved. “Good night...or good morning, I guess.” 

 

“Good morning,” Shiro said with a small chuckle, heading to his room. 

 

Lance entered his own room and flopped down on his bed. There was something about Keith... He was different, and Lance didn’t quite trust it. Keith seemed normal, on the surface at least. Not quite normal, he was at the top of his class. He was also very quiet, he never seemed to talk to anyone but Shiro. 

 

Lance tossed over in his bed, closing his eyes. Keith wasn’t going to betray them, right? The Red Lion wouldn’t have chosen him if he would. Shiro had known Keith for years. Shiro trusted Keith, and shouldn’t that be enough? But then there was the matter of the purple glow and the lime green eyes. 

 

Lance fell asleep with one thought in mind.  _ I’m going to figure out what’s going on with Keith. _

 

^*^

 

When Lance woke up, he headed to the dining room. When he got there, Shiro was there, sitting next to a very silent and glarey Keith. Lance watched Keith all through breakfast. Keith was acting a little different, in that he was even quieter, glaring even harder. It was like he was keeping his face as still as possible. After Lance finished eating, he dragged Hunk and Pidge out of the room. 

 

“There’s something up with Keith,” Lance stated.

 

“He does seem extra glarey,” Pidge agreed.

 

_ No, that’s not what- _ “I think we should follow him,” Lance said.

 

“I don’t know, dude…” Hunk trailed off.

 

Lance thought for a moment. “Hunk, it could compromise Voltron.” 

 

“Fair point, but-” Hunk started.

 

“Lance, I told you to leave it alone,” Shiro said from behind Lance. 

 

Lance jumped at the sound. “I am leaving it alone,” he swiftly defended. “This is about something else.”

 

“If you say so,” Shiro said, looking Lance up and down. “What’s this about then?”

 

“There’s something up with Keith. He seems off,” Pidge said simply. 

 

Shiro looked a little guilty. “Keith is..” he trailed off.

 

“ _ Keith is _ …” Pidge prompted a few moments later.

 

“Just- Just don’t bother him about it. If he wanted you guys to know about it, he would tell you. But he doesn’t, so just give him some space. Please?” Shiro asked. 

 

Shiro started walking away from them, probably towards the bridge. “Wellp, I’m out,” Hunk announced. 

 

“Come onnnn, Hunk,” Lance groaned when he was sure Shiro was out of earshot.

 

“Shiro says not to, I trust his judgment. Keith will tell us when he’s ready,” Hunk reasoned.

 

“But what if he’s never ready?” Lance argued. “What if he never tells us, and something goes wrong?” 

 

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can help with this.” Hunk began to walk away. “Good luck to you too though, I guess.”

 

Lance groaned and turned to Pidge. “Are you still in on this?” 

 

“Hell yeah, blackmail is priceless.” Pidge gave a devilish smile. Her smile dropped a little as she continued, “I’m a little busy with Sendak’s memories, but I’ll help all I can.”

 

“Thanks, Pidge.”


	12. Chapter 12

For the first six years of Keith’s life, he didn’t exactly have the safest environment to practice magic in, and merely just to live in. For two years after that, his mother simply didn’t have the time, she was too busy. She wished she could have, but there was nothing to be done. Keith understood this. For three years after that, he didn’t really have a teacher. And he couldn’t really do much but talk to Aiden without getting caught by someone. So, he simply didn’t practice magic. 

 

Then when he turned eleven there were security cameras everywhere, and he was completely cut off from Aiden for almost six years. After that for a year in the desert, he was completely unmonitored, no one knew where he was. Aiden was around all hours of the day and all days of the week. A few times they had to run to a nearby town to get food, but other than that Aiden never left Keith’s side. 

 

Keith still didn’t bother to try to practice any new spells or get better at the old ones. He was just too busy looking for Shiro. 

 

But now, at eighteen and five days, being in space, being in constant danger, Keith really wished he learned how to do almost any magic. Unfortunately, right now, he was exhausted. He had been ignoring his thoughts for hours, slashing through levels on the training deck until Shiro dragged him away to eat. So, there he sat, away from anyone and anything but Aiden, staring at the stars. Letting his thoughts wander and the tears fall.

 

Aiden cuddled into him. Keith didn’t want anyone around him.  _ Life _ was too much. 

 

That night was the third of many nights that week that Keith fell asleep on the stardeck. 

 

^*^

 

Lance checked the dining room, Keith wasn’t there, but neither was Shiro yet, so that wasn’t a surprise. Lance checked the training deck, he wasn’t there… Lance knocked on his door, no one answered. He waited down the hall a bit, Keith would have to walk there on his way to the kitchen. Lance felt like he had waited for hours before finally giving up and getting some breakfast of his own. 

 

When he got there he was a little stunned.  _ How did Keith get past me? _ Hunk, Pidge, and Keith sat at the table, everyone else must have finished early. Lance served himself some goo and took a seat at the table. “-and that's why Hunk is a Hufflepuff.” Pidge looked proud of her argument. 

 

“What are we talking about?” Lance asked.

 

“Hunk and Coran are Hufflepuffs, Keith and I are Slytherins, You, Shiro, and Allura are Gryffindors,” Pidge said helpfully. 

 

“I’m not a Slytherin.” Keith glared.

 

“No, I can actually see you as a Slytherin.” Lance waved his spoon around a little. He thought about it a little more. “Yeah, definitely a Slytherin.” 

 

“I’m not cunning or particularly ambitious. Those books aren’t that good anyway, I don’t know why we are talking about this.” Keith didn’t meet anyone’s eyes, sipping what Lance believed to be the closest things alteans could get to coffee. It was more like tea really. 

 

Hunk, Pidge, and Lance gave offended gasps. “How dare you those books are a work of art!”

 

Keith took another sip of his drink. “That's your opinion,” he said matter of factly.

 

“What do you have against it?” Hunk asked dejectedly. 

 

“The magic is boring and Dumbledore is a git,” Keith said offhandedly.

 

Lance rolled his eyes. “I take it you were a Percy Jackson kid?” 

 

“Not really. I didn’t read all of them, but I liked them better.” Keith shrugged, eating a spoonful of goo. 

 

“Keith reminds me of Nico,” Pidge said offhandedly. 

 

Keith tensed. “I’m against necromancy.” The statement kind of surprised Lance. Who would have thought the emo kid would be against raising the dead?

 

“What were you into if it wasn’t Harry Potter or Percy Jackson?” Hunk asked. 

 

“I had my hobbies.” Keith took another sip of his drink.

 

“I bet you were some kind of conspiracy theorist kid.” Lance took a bite of goo. 

 

“In a sense,” Keith said.  _ He probably was into aliens. _ Lance thought. 

 

“Aliens?” Pidge asked.

 

“Not really.” Keith sighed and picked up his empty plate and cup, leaving the room coldly.

 

“He’s up to something,” Lance said when the other boy’s frozen wake melted. 

 

“I still don’t think so, you heard what Shiro said.” Hunk took a sip of the not coffee. 

 

“Something’s wrong, but I don’t think he’s up to anything. We can get blackmail on him,  _ and _ make him feel better.” Pidge stood up, picking up her own plate. She glanced at Lance. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”

 

“What do you mean?” Lance took the last bite of goo.

 

“Go follow him, you little shit!” Pidge grabbed his plate, stacking it on top of her own.

 

“Right! Thank’s, Pidge!” He said, running out of the room to follow Keith. 

 

^*^

 

When Keith got to his room his eyes flashed pink. “Everything has got me thinking,” he said slowly, sitting down on the floor, leaning against his bed. “I really want to learn more magic… for mom, ya know?” He half expected Aiden to interrupt him, but she didn’t say a thing. “I’ve really only half learned spells, and I only know  _ of _ a few,” he continued. “No offense but you are a shit teacher, and you never tell me shit. There are so many things I don’t know, and I feel like there is so much that you know that you just don’t tell me. I feel like you  _ know _ why the balmera crystal does what it does. I feel like you know what's going on out here more than me! But you don’t tell me shit!” Keith rambled, getting more emotionally charged. 

 

“Keith,” Aiden calmly interrupted.

 

“Fuuuucccckkkkkk,” Keith groaned. 

 

“Keith,” she said again, pawing at his leg. 

 

“Yeah?” Keith scritched behind Aiden’s ears. 

 

“I think it’s time to show you something.” Aiden stepped back a little. Keith hummed a questioning sound. "I can open a portal to your mother's library.” 

 

“What the hell does that even mean?”

 

“Please stop swearing. Do you want me to explain or do you want me to show you?”

 

Keith stood up. “Show me.”

 

Aiden opened her mouth and let out a bark. A door sized blue shimmering oval appeared a few feet in front of her. Keith slowly stepped towards the portal, sticking his hand in. He glanced at Aiden. “Just go through,” she commanded. He took a step through the portal, Aiden following close behind. 

 

Keith walked into the dark room, barely illuminated by the portal’s small glow until Aiden closed it behind them. In the portal’s place was a dark wooden door with a few carvings in it. Keith flicked his fingers out a few times, many small stars appearing in the air, floating around like mote. The room was quite small, about the size of a queen bed. The walls were lined with bookshelves, most of the shelves were filled with stacked jars packed with different ingredients. The others contained old books, squeezed together to fit them all on the shelf. There was a small fire pit in the middle of the room, uncleaned and filled with ash. 

 

Keith picked was about to grab a book from one of the shelves when he noticed that a few of the jars were creating their own light. It was labeled “ _ Balmeran crystal _ ”. Keith turned to Aiden. “Did you know about this?” he asked.

 

Aiden shook her head. “Izzy didn’t show me everything.”

 

Keith picked up the jar and inspected it. It was definitely Balmeran crystals. What could it mean? What had his mom been up to? He put the jar back in its spot. Aimless wondering would get him nowhere. He went back to the side of the room with the books, only needing to take two steps. “The one on the top of the shelf has the spell to open and close the portal in and out of here.” Keith looked up, sure enough, there was a relatively thin book lying on its side on top of the shelves. 

 

Keith grabbed the book, sliding it off the tall shelf. When he opened it the dry spine of the book gave a crack. The first page had a sticky note on it, reading “ _ They find  _ _ this _ _ , they find  _ _ him _ _. _ ” 

 

“What is this cryptic shit?” Keith flipped to the next page. 

 

“Your mom was a bit paranoid… not unreasonably though. She left notes for herself sometimes just in case,” Aiden explained. 

 

“In case of what?” Keith asked, skimming the first page. It seemed like a long winded dedication to a bunch of people who died.

 

“In case someone tampered with her memories.” Aiden had a sorrowful look in her eyes as she lied down next to where Keith stood, resting her head on his left foot. 

 

Keith flipped to the next page. There was a table of contents, most of them starting with “The effects of” and then a kind of sigil. It didn’t seem like they would say how the sigils were made, just their effects. There was a handwritten line at the bottom of the page, reading “ _ Portal binding sigil: 34 _ ” 

 

“Portal binding?” Keith asked openly. Starting to flip to the page. 

 

“I think that’s it.”

 

The page was blank but for a tiny handwritten line parallel to the spine of the book. “ _ Clever Fairies of the same. _ ” 

 

“What does that even mean?” Keith glanced down at the relaxed wolf on his foot.

 

“What does it say?” Aiden picked her head off his foot, looking up at him.

 

“‘Clever Fairies of the same.’ The ‘F’ in ‘Faries’ is capitalized…” Keith trails off, in thought. 

 

“It’s the title of a book.” Aiden continues looking at him, it’s beginning to feel like a stare until she stood up. She walked closer to the bookshelf, looking for the book. 

 

Keith soon finds it on an upper shelf. “Of the same…” he mumbles. He cracks open the cover, immediately flipping through the much thicker book to the 34th page. “Why the fuck is this book called ‘Clever Faries’?” 

 

“What has brought on all this swearing? Honestly, Keith!” 

 

Keith ignored her and began reading over the page. The spell was there, plain and simple. He walked over to the door that stood in the corner of the small room. He focused his energy on casting the spell, and soon a new carving joined the others on the door. 

 

Keith closed the book and put it back in its spot on the shelf. He moved back towards the door tracing his finger over his own carving while studying the other two. Keith easily reopened the portal. Aiden gave a nod “Wonderful.” 

 

Keith grabbed the first volume of what appeared to be a long series of beginner's spells from the bottom shelf and exited the small library, Aiden close on his heels. As soon as they both exited the portal Keith closed it behind them, flopping down on his bed and beginning to read the book. 

 

^*^

 

Lance was stunned, he just saw a dog that looked like it was made of fire walk through a shimmery blue portal thingy, and then saw said portal thingy disappear. Where did Keith go? Lance had seen him walk into his room. He overheard a bit of a conversation before walking in and seeing Keith not there… and a fire dog, walk through a portal. 

 

Lance decided something then and there, secrets were never a good thing, and Keith definitely had a lot of them.


	13. Chapter 13

Lance huffed. “There’s got to be something here that I’m not seeing,” Lance muttered to himself, tapping the eraser of a pencil on his cheek. He had started making a list of the suspicious activities. Disappearing and talking to someone who wasn’t there was at the top. Pidge had given him the spare notebook she kept in the backpack she brought with her. 

 

Lance began considering other methods of gathering information. Flipping to a new page, he began to brainstorm. He started writing down ideas, scribbling them out whenever he actually thought about them.  _ What the hell was in his room? _

 

Lance decided to give up on that endeavor for the time being. At the top of a new page, he wrote “ _ Keith’s secrets? _ ” He began listing the ones he’d been thinking about. Maybe Keith had some communication device that let him talk to people that are not on the ship. Maybe Keith is some sort of spy, sent to take down Voltron from the inside… no, that one doesn’t make sense. He helped build Voltron… What if Keith was unknowingly a spy? 

 

Lance scribbled furiously, ‘what if’s pouring onto the page. He flipped back a page and wrote distinctly “ _ Gain his trust so he’ll tell you himself. _ ” He underlined it to show its importance. Lance was jolted out of his thoughts when Pidge spoke. 

 

“Give it a rest and go to bed Lance,” Pidge berated. 

 

“Pot meet kettle,” Lance said in a monotone voice, still staring at the page. Pidge had been typing away furiously for the past three hours digging through Sendak’s memories. 

 

“Fine,” Pidge groaned, typing for a few moments before closing her laptop. “What have you got so far on Keith’s bad mood?”

 

Lance paused a little. Right, that's what he was supposed to be doing. Lance coughed slightly to distract from the small freeze. “No, you twelve-year-old gremlin, we’re going to bed.” 

 

“I’m fifteen!” Lance stood up and offered her a hand. “Fine,” she grumbled again. She accepted his hand and stood up. “You’re such a dad.”

 

“No, I’ve just have been babysitting my family since I was twelve.” 

 

They made their way back to the hallway with everyone’s bedroom. Pidge slipped off to hers as Lance continued the slightly longer journey to his. He was about to step into his when he heard the quiet noise of another door open. Keith’s door. 

 

Lance stepped out of the doorway. Keith had a bowl of goo in his hand, he looked tired. Just before Keith entered his room, his eyes flashed pink. Lance stared, as the door closed behind Keith.  _ So his eyes glow pink as well…  _

 

^*^

 

Keith sat in his room for as long as he could. He ignored the rumble of his stomach. He had sent Aiden away after the second time she told him to eat. He didn’t think any of the paladins noticed his absence, because no one came to find him. He was glad they didn’t come and find him, he really didn’t want to talk to anyone. He just kept reading. He would practice the new spells. Then, when he barely succeeded, he would move on to the next. He just wanted to know more. He could worry about perfection later.

 

They were pretty simple spells, they did simple things. Keith found he was quite good at ash and ember spells. They were like easier versions of fire spell counterparts. That's what Keith was doing right now, practicing fire spells. They seemed like they would be useful in combat, the Galra didn’t seem to be fireproof. 

 

Eventually, Keith got too hungry. It was getting late, and Keith had skipped lunch and dinner. He figured he wouldn’t need to talk to anyone. He hoped everyone was already in bed. He made the short trek to the kitchen, grabbed a serving of goo and headed back to his room.

 

His eyes glowed pink as he stepped into his room. The door shut behind him. “Hi, Aiden,” he greeted. 

 

“How was studying and not taking care of yourself?”

 

“Oh, shut up,” Keith said. “I’m not that bad.” He put a scoop of goo in his mouth. “Fire really seems to be my element.” Keith shivered as he felt his lion’s approval at the statement. 

 

“What have I said about talking with your mouth full?” 

 

Keith put another bite in his mouth. “You really think I’m going to listen to you?”

 

“Not particularly, but I’m not going to stop trying. Not till I die.”

 

“Wait… you can die?” Keith asked sadly.

 

“Yes, I can, Keith. Why did you think I couldn’t?” 

 

“Magic stuff?” Keith put another bite of goo. 

 

“I think I should show you the book on familiars.” The shimmering blue portal appeared beside Aiden. Aiden stepped through and Keith followed, bowl in hand.

 

Keith closed the portal behind them. He took another bite of goo as Aiden scanned the shelves for the book. Aiden soon found it and Keith brought it back to his room. Aiden told him to read the first chapter, it was really just an introduction, and then continue with the spell book he had been practicing with. 

 

He made a mental list of things he learned from the first chapter.

  1. When a familiar’s witch dies, the familiar effectively dies too, as it usually can’t be summoned into the time stream again.
  2. Familiars don’t experience the passage of time when they are away from their witch, but they do know how much time has passed since the last time they were with their witch. 
  3. Familiars don’t age.
  4. Familiars can be killed, but are a lot less vulnerable than humans.
  5. Keith has a familiar that isn’t Aiden, and he should probably learn to summon them. 
  6. A Witch’s familiar will be the perfect fit for them, basically a piece of their soul. 
  7. Sometimes familiars aren’t common animals, sometimes they are magic, like dragons or pegasi. 
  8. There is an entire book on shape-shifting familiars, they are extremely rare and their witches are usually in constant danger. They also have crazy weird other powers. 
  9. There is a chapter on giving control of a familiar to another witch.



 

For the past twelve hours, Keith has felt the most clear-headed since his birthday. His mind had been free and clear of his mother. With that ninth item, Keith flipped to the chapter about transferring familiars and tears pricked in his eyes at the first line. “ _ The most important thing a witch needs for this is truly loving the witch they are giving their familiar to. _ ” Keith immediately shut the book and set it on the floor. 

 

He decided it was probably a good idea to sleep. He slid down into his bed, Aiden curled around him and he drifted to sleep.

 

^*^

 

Lance spent two days being as nice as possible to Keith. It was very difficult. Hiding your emotions is a daunting task. Lance was Keith’s self-proclaimed rival, and Keith was definitely up to something. He tried to spend time with him, but he always seemed irritated, like he had better things to do. So Lance did what he could. He made sure Keith was eating. He made sure Keith wasn’t killing himself on the training deck. Keith hadn’t really been on the training deck, but that was supposed to be part of the plan. Lance even dragged Keith to be social with Hunk and Pidge. And when Keith fell asleep on the star deck (he did so both nights), Lance brought him a blanket. 

 

Lance had been taking notes on Keith those two days. His eyes flash lime green when he’s surprised. He really doesn’t like food goo, no one does. He talks to whoever he is talking to a lot. The person he talks to is named Aiden.

 

He learned those last ones while listening through the walls. It almost seemed like Keith was on the phone, Lance couldn’t hear the other half of the conversation. 

 

^*^

 

Shiro was noticing some different behavior from Keith… Usually, after his birthday, he was secluded and moody, and there wasn’t much he could do to change that. But the past few days had been odd. Keith had been out and about a lot… Shiro asked Pidge what day it was on Earth. Apparently, it was only the thirtieth of October.

 

When Keith wasn’t in his room or on the training deck, Shiro saw him with Lance. How did Lance even get Keith to go with him? No matter what, it was a good thing.

 

“Thank you,” Shiro said.

 

“For what?” Lance tilted his head.

 

“For getting Keith to do stuff, getting him to eat. I can barely get him to do any of that this time of year anymore.” 

 

Lance shifted slightly. “No prob, Bob,” he chuckled.

 

“Has he told you guys anything?” Shiro asked.

 

“Nope,” Lance said, popping the ‘p’.

 

Shiro hummed. “I thought not.”

 

^*^

 

After two days of Lance randomly barging in on him and dragging him places, Keith had had enough. Lance’s entire attitude toward him had changed. It was really weird. It was almost friendly… but he was kind of trying too hard. Keith was done with it nonetheless. So there was Keith, sitting on the floor in his mother’s library finally reading the second chapter in the book on familiars. 

 

It really felt strange for Lance to be so… welcoming? It was so off character for Lance to have stopped picking fights. He had lessened the fighting since the castle malfunctioned, but now it had completely stopped. 

 

Keith tisked. He had been lost in thought and hadn’t actually read the last five paragraphs. Soon he finished the chapter and felt like he was ready to try summoning his own familiar. 

 

He closed his eyes and focused on the energy around him. He gathered that energy and focused on it becoming solid. When he opened his eyes nothing had changed. He gave a disappointed sigh.

 

“It took your mother two weeks to fully form me the first time,” Aiden commented.

 

“How old was she?” 

 

“Thirteen, but that’s not the point.”

 

“What is the point, then?”

 

“My point is that there was no way you were going to summon your familiar on the first try.” 

 

“I knew that.”

 

Aiden sighed. “I suggest you read more of the lore first, it might help.”

 

Keith hummed in acknowledgment, flipping to the next page. 

 

^*^

 

Lance had combed through the castle to find Keith. He didn’t seem to be anywhere. No one had seen him. So Lance wandered. He wandered from floor to floor to floor. Looking for any sign of Keith. 

 

He looked around Keith’s room. A light colored ash seemed to dust the floor. Had there been a fire? Maybe it was that wolf that looked like it had been made of fire? Lance opened a new page in the notebook. “ _ Causes for the ash/was it the wolf? _ ” lance wrote at the top of the page.

 

Had he seen the wolf before? Maybe in glimpses around the castle. Lance thought about it for a short moment. That wolf had been there when the castle tried to eject him into space! Lance thought it was worth looking into. He walked halfway across the castle and five floors down to the eject bay.

 

There wasn’t any of the ash anywhere. Just a few weird bits of melted metal. What had melted the metal? It had to have been the wolf. But could the wolf have caused the ash? The wolf could have spent most of its time in Keith’s room. How exactly was the wolf made of fire? How was life sustainable like that? What the hell was up with this wolf? 

 

Lance really hoped his questions would be answered. If he could only get Keith to trust him. Lance breathed a sigh. This was going to take a while.


	14. Chapter 14

Pidge was doubling down on going through Sendak’s memories. She had been working on it long enough and it was getting tiring. She woke up, ate breakfast, started working, ate lunch, continued working, ate dinner, and continued working. As she went to bed, she predicted that she would have gone through all the memories and translated them before lunch the next day. 

 

^*^

 

Keith wandered the castle. He had been sitting in the library all day. He stumbled onto the training deck and decided to go for it. Starting at level three he built his way up to level seven. He felt like he hadn’t really been on the training deck as much since his birthday. 

 

Keith’s heart clenched. Should he practice magic? Why not… Keith threw a clumsy flame at the gladiator. Surprisingly it hit the gladiator square in the chest and it faltered backward. Keith lunged at the gladiator, striking through it as it tried to regain its balance. The gladiator dissolved and Keith commanded the next level gladiator to drop down. 

 

As he continued fighting he got lost in thought. What if he told the other paladins about his magic? He remembered the last time he told someone quite vividly for it having been over ten years prior. 

 

_ Keith crept around the corner of the school. He was going to meet with his new friend Daniel. Keith’s mom said not to tell anyone about his powers unless he trusted them. Keith definitely trusted Daniel. He was such a good friend. Now, Keith didn’t necessarily know what trust meant, but that didn’t mean he didn’t trust Daniel.  _

 

_ Daniel was a nice kid. He helped Keith in class. He invited Keith over to his house after school and a bunch of other stuff that Keith didn’t care to list at the moment. He didn’t care to list it because Daniel spotted him and started walking over.  _

 

_ Keith beamed. “I have something cool to show you!” _

 

_ “Really? What is it, Keith?” Daniel asked.  _

 

_ “Follow me! It’s a secret.” Daniel followed Keith to a nook in the playground.  _

 

_ Keith picked up a handful of mulch. “Watch closely,” he told the other boy. Slowly Keith’s hand glowed a light lavender and the wood in his palm shifted. Little sprouts of leaves and roots grew out of the small pieces, most joining together.  _

 

_ Keith stopped and looked at Daniel. He looked horrified. “Get away from me you freak!” Daniel yelled, scrambling up and running away. _

 

Keith had to move after that. His mom gave him a long lecture about not telling anyone. But the paladins would understand… right? They were his friends… They were old enough to understand Keith didn’t mean any harm… Right? And it was important. He could help the universe better this way. 

 

Logically he knew he  _ should _ tell them. But part of him feared… that maybe they wouldn’t like it. Maybe they would tell him not to use it. Logically he  _ knew _ they wouldn’t. So why was he so scared that they would? You’re supposed to trust gut feelings right? He wanted to tell them so much. Things could be so much easier. 

 

Keith breathed heavily. His brain said to tell them. His heart said not to. Suddenly he realized he had stopped moving as the gladiator's staff came hurling into him, knocking him across the room. “End training sequence,” Keith heaved when he stopped rolling. The gladiator deactivated, jumping back up to the room above.

 

Lance walked past the open door to the training deck. “Are you okay?” he asked.

 

“Yeah,” Keith grunted, pushing himself up to a sitting position. He winced. He must have sprained his wrist. 

 

“You should get Coran to look at your wrist.” Lance offered a hand for Keith. Keith took it with his unsprained wrist and stood up carefully. 

 

“I’ll be fine, Lance. Don’t worry about it.” Keith planned to heal himself as soon as he was alone. His wrist ached horribly, he hoped he could find a way to be alone soon. 

 

“Are you sure?” Lance asked.

 

“Positive.”

 

“Why are you so keen on suffering your injuries alone?” Lance tilted his head, and Keith noticed that they had begun walking through the castle halls… towards the med wing. 

 

Keith abruptly turned around. “I’m not going to the med wing, Lance. Leave me alone.” 

 

“I’m just trying to help…” Lance turned to follow Keith. Keith became taciturn.

 

Keith continued down the corridor, skipping his own door and continuing to Shiro’s. He shot a glare at Lance, silently telling him to  **leave** . Lance got the message, putting his hands up in surrender and backing away. Keith lay a firm knock on Shiro’s door. 

 

The door slip opened revealing Shiro reading a book in his paladin armor. “Go take a shower I can smell you from here.” Keith groaned. He knew as much but it was still annoying. Minorly glad for the excuse to be alone Keith turned from Shiro’s door and walked back to his room. 

 

^*^

 

Keith felt better after the shower and healing his wrist, he hadn’t realized he had had a headache. He went to check on Pidge finding her typing away quickly. She seemed reluctant to answer his questions and never looked up from her computer. 

 

Pidge was already in the dining hall when he arrived, so that was a good sign. Shiro mentioned that she might be overworking herself because she just wants to get it over with. Hunk had been helping her a lot, but today she was applying theories Hunk came up with so he wasn’t necessary. 

 

Keith quickly ate dinner and took to wandering the castle. He didn’t feel like training. He didn’t feel useful helping Pidge. Lance may have been attempting to be nicer but he probably wouldn’t like it if Keith invited himself to whatever he and Hunk were doing. Keith didn’t want to even think about magic, let alone practice it. 

 

As always, he eventually ended up on the star deck. Watching the world drift in and out of focus. His mind blurred as he drifted to sleep.

 

^*^

 

Izzy had been telling Keith stories about the previous owner of the knife. Someone Izzy was calling “Kitten”, though Keith was sure now that that hadn’t been her name. Keith had been barely a week over eight. 

 

That's when the large crash of a door bursting open rung through their tiny apartment. Izzy immediately sprung into action, like she had planned for this very moment. Her eyes flashed pink, and a fiery form appeared in front of her. She picked up Keith, who was clutching the knife close to his chest and shoved him into the closet. Aiden immediately followed. “Protect him,” Izzy command, sliding the closet doors closed. 

 

Keith shot up, trying to pry open the door. It wouldn’t budge. He heard stomps and indecipherable shouts, muffled through the closet doors. Keith continued to try and open the door, only to be shoved further into the closet by Aiden. He curled into himself, and the little eight-year-old began to cry. Everything was loud. What was going on? Aiden pushed her head in between the boy’s arms. Aiden slowly got through, detangling the small boy’s limbs. 

 

Keith slowly relaxed, clinging to both Aiden and his knife. Eventually, he fell asleep. Panicking makes you tired, especially when you are only eight. 

 

^*^

 

When Keith awoke there was no sound, just a gentle nudging at his face. “Wake up, Keith,” an unfamiliar voice said a few moments later. Keith clenched his eyes shut. He didn’t remember falling asleep. “They’re gone, Keith,” the same voice spoke. 

 

Keith opened his eyes, blinking a few times. The little boy rubbed his eyes, slowly realizing who was talking. “Aiden? What…” he mumbled. 

 

“You’re safe now, Keith.” Aiden hadn’t really been talking, familiars didn’t talk, just sent what they would have said to the witch they were connected too. Only the witch they were connected too. So why could Keith hear her?

 

“What’s going on?” Keith sat up a little in the small room of the closet.

 

“Everything is going to be okay, Keith.” Aiden had somehow sensed the tears coming before Keith had. 

“W-why can I h-hear you?” Keith asked through broken breaths. 

 

“Your mother wanted to me to stay with you,” Aiden said, hurt in her thoughts. “I miss her so much already, but we have to stay strong for her.”

 

Keith sniffled. “Where’s Mom?”

 

“She’s gone, Keith. Can you stand up for me Keith?” Aiden asked calmly. 

 

Keith’s vision was blurry. He stood up slowly. His mother was gone, and there was no getting her back. 

 

Keith slowly stopped crying, telling himself to be brave. He tried the door again, it opened easily. The door revealed a ransacked room. The pillows were in shreds. The mattress upturned, sheets on the floor. He noticed that the closet wasn't there anymore. Keith's tear-streaked face looked in awe at the blank wall. "Your mother put a spell on it," Aiden answered the unasked question. Keith held Aiden's scruff for comfort. 

 

Keith crept out of his mom's room to search the apartment. Keith's own room fared no better than his mother's. He ignored the ache in his throat as he continued through the apartment. 

 

The bathroom had glass from the mirror strewn on the floor. There were tiles shattered on the floor of the bathtub. The cabinets in the bathroom had their contents spilled out of them. Keith resisted the urge to sniffle in his runny nose, knowing it would make things worse. 

 

The kitchen cabinets were open, the drawers taken out of their slots. The living room was in pieces. The couch was upside down. The cushions were scattered across the floor, each with a giant gash in it. 

 

Someone had ransacked the house, and possibly found what they were looking for. Keith stood there. Just staring. Gripping his knife and Aiden hard. Eventually, Aiden coaxed him into going next door and asking his neighbor to call someone for him. That meant Aiden had to leave first, it took a long while for Keith to let go. 

 

^*^

 

Izzy wished she could have had longer. She knew this day was coming. They were coming for her. They were coming for what she knew. They were coming for what she had given to her little Akaria. No one would ever find it. They would never get it out of her. They could never get it our of Akaria. 

 

_ I’m sorry, Akaria _ … That was her last thought before drifting unconscious as the large, black-clad, men injected the needle into her unwilling arm. She prayed that the light could return to her world.

 

It never came. At least not to the world she expected.


	15. Chapter 15

Lance walked onto the star deck… again. Nope. Lance walked out of the star deck. Then he turned back around, walking in. To hell with this. Almost exactly twelve minutes later Lance walked onto the star deck, finally deciding to stay, and sat down next to Keith’s sleeping form. 

 

A few moments passed and Lance heard a quiet whine of distress. He glanced over to Keith, his shoulders were shaking slightly. “Not again…” Keith whispered. 

 

Wait… was Keith… having a nightmare? That didn’t seem right… Lance placed a hand on Keith’s shoulder. “Keith.” He shook. Keith squeezed his eyes shut. “Keith, wake up.” Lance shook again. “Hey, Keith! Wake up!” 

 

“Wha-?” Keith mumbled sitting up.

 

“You were having a nightmare,” Lance explained. 

 

Keith blushed slightly. “Oh… I don’t really remember that…” Keith turned to look at Lance. “Is it November first yet?”

 

“I’m not sure. Have you been keeping track of the date?”

 

“I- Yeah, I have… Is it past midnight?”

 

“Yeah, I think so.” Lance noticed the goosebumps covering Keith’s arms. He swung his blanket around their shoulders.

 

“Thanks.” 

 

“No prob.”

 

They sat is a semi-comfortable silence for a few moments. “Are you okay?” Lance asked. 

 

“I… yes… Why?” 

 

“You’ve been kind of… off this week. Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked, concern laced into his tone. 

 

Uncertainty danced on Keith’s face. “...no?”

 

“...Wanna talk about it?” 

 

“Maybe,” Keith grumbled. He leaned left, resting his head on Lance’s shoulder. 

 

Lance stiffened slightly.  _ This is a good thing, he trusts you. _ He repeated to himself. Lance hummed slightly.

  
  
  
  


Keith felt the vibration pass through him. Should he tell Lance? Should he talk about what happened? What he was probably dreaming about. Maybe Lance could be the first person he tells about being a witch…

 

Keith mentally shook away the thought. “I miss my mom.” Lance hummed again.

 

“I miss my mom too.”

 

“I think I know what I was dreaming about…” 

 

“Wanna tell me about it?” 

 

“I guess… My mom was telling me a story, and there were some loud sounds. She told me to stay put,” Magically locked me in a closet with a dog made out of a star. “and went to check it out. She didn’t come back…”

 

“Well, you’re stuck with  _ us _ . No one on this team will leave you behind. Why do you think you were dreaming about that?” They sat in a tight silence, there seemed to be so much of it. When the silence was almost suffocating, Keith finally spoke. 

 

“My mom died exactly ten years ago,” Keith mumbled. Lance stiffens and sucks in a breath.

 

“That’ll do it…” He responds, chuckling slightly. He’s still stiff though.

 

“I feel like I should be over it… but at the same time, I feel like I’m never going to be over it.” They lap into a soft silence, and Lance draws and arm up to rest on Keith’s shoulder under the blanket. 

 

“What was she like?” Lance asked in a careful whisper.

 

Keith’s brain stutters for a moment.  _ What was she like? _ “She was funny… and compassionate…”  _ Very gay… _ His brain supplied. He chuckled slightly at the thought. “She liked the stars… and plants…”  _ How the hell am I even alive? _ He questioned again. His biology had been a constant question since he was eight. “She told stories a lot… She really liked the stars. She knew everything about them… at least it felt like she did. I bet she could name all the stars out there-” Keith gestured out the window. “-without being on Earth.”

 

“Sounds like a nice person.” 

 

“She was… ” 

 

“How did she die?” Lance blurted, Keith tensed under his hand. “Oh-geez. You don’t have to answer that.” 

 

“I- it’s okay,” Keith said. He yawned. “Well, she locked me in the closet with our dog, Aiden. It felt like she planned it. Like she knew what was going to happen. I heard her leave the room and yell something. I think I passed out or something… When I woke up the closet opened easily and the apartment was a mess. No one was there. I left Aiden there and went over to my neighbor's house to call the police.”

  
  
  
  


_ Holy shit can Keith talk to ghosts? _ “Did they ever find her body?” Lance asked.

 

Keith shook his head against Lance’s shoulder. So Aiden had to have died at some point. And that’s how Aiden’s spirit was in space. Aiden was a fire ghost? Keith could definitely talk to ghosts. That could explain a lot. But wait… could he actually though. 

 

Lance may be working to gain Keith’s trust to get him to spill his guts, but what if Keith was doing the same. Was he getting too comfortable? Keith was supposed to be the bad guy, and now Lance feels kind of bad for him. His mom was dead… What happened to his dad though? Keith hadn’t mentioned his dad. 

 

Lance’s mind began running through thoughts of Keith’s dad. Each one worse than the last… Worse for Keith at least. Absent since birth… in jail… abusive… Lance shook away the thoughts, not realizing he actually moved his head. 

 

Keith had to be up to something. That’s why he was here. He  _ had _ to remember why he was here. Something was up with Keith. Something was  _ off _ about Keith. Something that could theoretically endanger Voltron. Something that could theoretically endanger the universe. Lance had to figure it out. 

 

“Keith?” Lance asked quietly.

 

Keith hummed slightly. 

 

“How did you get into the Garrison?”

 

“Shiro came to my middle school looking for recruits. I was the only who could get past the third level of the simulator. Then I stole his car, and he got me into the Garrison.” 

 

“What the fuck?”

 

“That’s what  _ I _ thought,” Keith mumbled, obviously falling asleep. 

 

“Goodnight Keith.” 

 

Keith mumbled something indecipherable and a comfortable silence washed over them.


	16. Chapter 16

“Paladins report to the bridge!”

 

Keith shot up, immediately he tripped over the blanket. “Ow!” Oh… OH… that wasn’t a blanket… It was a blanket  _ and Lance _ . Oops… Keith groaned. “You okay?”

 

“Probably,” Keith answered, standing up.

 

“Let’s go!” Lance ordered quickly, leaving his blanket behind. He got up and quickly exited the star deck.

 

Keith barely registered what had happened when he yelled: “Wait for me!” and ran off after him. He soon slowed down, giving up on catching up to Lance, and memories, of the night before flooded back. “Oh yeah… that was weird,” Keith said laconically.

 

^*^

 

“Somewhere inside Sendak's memories, we should be able to find the inside information that gives us the key to taking down Zarkon,” Allura said as the paladins gathered around Pidge’s chair on the bridge. 

 

“I don't think your father would approve of searching through an enemy's memories.” 

 

“All’s fair in love and war…” Pidge said under her breath. 

 

“There’s a love story?” Hunk asked.

 

“Nope, just an expression. ‘The ends justify the means’ is also fitting for the situation.” 

 

“So after days of sifting through memories, what do we have?” Shiro asked.

 

“I've cross-referenced Sendak's memories with the info I got from the downed ship back on Arus. Most of it was a garbled mess, but one thing kept repeating, something called a ‘Universal Station.’” 

 

“That sounds a lot like how you found out about Voltron,” Lance mumbled.

 

“Universal Station? Like, the kind of station that controls the entire universe?” Hunk asked.

 

“Well, we are translating it from Galra, so it could also be ‘Galactic Hub.’” 

 

“Great, where is it?” Keith asked.

 

“I'm pulling up the location of this Universal-Hub-Station-Base on our screens now,” Coran said as an image of three planets appeared. 

 

“So... where is it?” Lance asked when nothing else happened.

 

“I don't know. Our long-range sensors are unable to find anything at those coordinates.” Coran scratched the top of his head.

 

“Maybe he remembered it wrong,” Keith suggested. “Memories are notably unreliable.”

 

“Or maybe we just stumbled across a top-secret base in Sendak's memories,” Pidge said, you could hear the smile in her voice.

 

“Only one way to find out. Let's go take a look,” Allura announced, looking proud. 

 

“Setting course, Princess. Estimated travel time is nineteen vargas.”

 

^*^

 

Feeling a little bored Keith grabbed a thin, short book off one of the shelves in his mother’s library. In silver calligraphy “Grunderna” was written. He went back to his room and sat down on his bed. He flipped past the table of contents and began to read. 

 

“Aiden!” he immediately yelled. Aiden jumped a little next to him and lifted her head. “Did you not remember casting words?” 

 

“I remember some casting words… but I was never the one using them. I didn’t really pay attention.”

 

“Well, apparently most spells need them. Simple spells don’t need them. I wouldn’t be surprised if the first time you summon a familiar you have to you casting words and I just didn’t see them.” Keith had an excited look in his eyes.

 

“Well, go check then.” Aiden rolled her eyes. 

 

Keith opened the portal and grabbed the book on familiars. Skimming along the first chapter of instructions he spotted the casting words. “ _ Framkalla vän _ ”

 

Suddenly Keith felt jittery. He needed to fight something. He could practice summoning his familiar on the training deck. His eyes flashed green, and he returned the books to their shelves. Soon he was on the training deck. “Start training level five,” he requested, and a training bot came down. 

 

It immediately charged at him. It swung and missed him entirely. Keith activated his bayard and swung at the gladiator. He hit it only barely grazing the chest plate with his sword. The gladiator swiftly moved behind him. It swung its staff at his legs. Keith stumbled forward, spinning to face the gladiator. He swung at the gladiator again, missing entirely.  _ Oh dear. _ Keith dodged out of the way of another attack. He swiftly struck the gladiator in the back, causing it to stumble gawkily. As it attempted to regain its balance it swung at Keith, barely missing him. Keith summoned a small flame and chucked it at the nearby gladiator hitting it squarely in the chest causing it to lose all it’s gained footing. The gladiator squared it’s stance and launched itself at Keith, hitting his right bicep with its staff. Keith stumbled sideways and let out a cough. 

 

Keith disorientedly turned to his right where the gladiator now stood and swung his bayard, sparks skidded off the gladiator. The gladiator, seemingly unaffected, swung its staff at Keith, hitting him on squarely his left bicep. Keith stumbled, retreating backward as much as possible before throwing hot flame at the gladiator. The flame hit the gladiator’s right shoulder making it stumble backward. Keith was entirely out of its range. He took the opportunity to throw another fireball at it. Missing entirely, he tried again, this time with much better luck. The flame hit the gladiator in the chest causing it to dematerialize. 

 

Keith panted harshly with his hands on his knees. “Start training level six,” he requested as soon as he caught his breath. A gladiator dropped down from the ceiling, immediately making the first move. It swung its staff, hitting Keith behind his knees. Keith stumbled slightly, immediately swinging his bayard. He hit the gladiator clean at its core. It used Keith’s proximity, swinging its staff, knocking Keith’s right shoulder slightly. 

 

Keith backed up quickly, summoning a fireball, he pitched it hitting the gladiator at its core again. The gladiator stumbled slightly but soon began sprinting towards Keith. Keith swiftly dodged out of the way. “ _ Framkalla vän, _ ” he whispered, focusing all his energy to summoning his familiar.

 

For a split second Keith’s eyes flashed a soft yellow and an opalescent creature appeared. Then his eyes flashed a soft purple and the creature vanished. Hard metal slammed into Keith, catching him completely off guard. “Fuck!” Keth swung his Bayard back at the gladiator slicing right through its torso, causing the gladiator to disintegrate. 

 

“ _ Framkalla vän _ ,” Keith repeated. His eyes flickered a pale yellow and the opalescent creature appeared again before vanishing just as quickly. His hands glowed purple as he touched his knees, healing them.

 

Keith continued reciting the words as he wandered the more abandoned parts of the castle. 

 

^*^

 

Lance sauntered the castle, looking for anything to do. They still had a long journey ahead of them. He hummed along to some half-forgotten song playing through his mind. Eventually, he heard a second set of footsteps down the hall.

 

Somehow he had ended up near some library in the far reaches of the castle. Keith was in there, he seemed to be pacing aimlessly. Keith muttered something under his breath and then his eyes flashed yellow and purple. He groaned.

 

“You okay?” Lance asked. Thoughts were flying through his head, racing around each other in some weird infinite relay race. His mind kept looping back to one thing.  _ What if Keith is Galra? _ The dots connected. Keith closed the Galra hanger, that screen hadn’t done a thing when Lance had touched it. Glowing purple was a Galra thing… and the yellow eyes… what if Galra eyes could glow a ton of colors? That would explain a lot. 

 

Wait. Does that mean Keith is evil? No. He couldn’t be. Could he? No, Keith was on their side… What if Keith didn’t know? He probably didn’t. He would have told them if he knew. Lance was sure of it.

 

“Yeah! I’m fine.” Keith jumped slightly where he stood. “Whatcha doing?”

 

“Wandering… Everyone’s busy with something. Coran, Pidge, and Hunk are doing repairs and Allura is looking for important stuff in Sendak’s memories. Shiro is… somewhere, I honestly have no clue…” Lance trailed off. “What are you up to?”

 

“Oh, um… Wandering?”

 

Lance chuckled, taking his chance. “You asking me or telling me?”

 

“Fuck off.” 

  
“Let’s go find something to pass the time,” Lance said to the ghost summoning Galra boy in front of him.  _ The universe is so weird…  _


	17. Chapter 17

“We should be close enough to get a good scan, but far enough away to avoid being noticed,” Allura said. They had all regathered on the bridge a few minutes prior. 

 

The ship maneuvered away from a planet, giving them a full view of a large asteroid covered in Galra structures. Lance whistled. 

 

“It appears the gravitation between the two planets warps the electron emission spectrum enough to keep the planet off the deep space scanners,” Coran explained.

 

“So you can only see it if you really know where to look. Cool!” Pidge exclaimed.

 

“Nerd out later Pidge.” 

 

Curiosity crept around every corner of Keith’s thoughts. What was so important that they hid it instead of having extra firepower? The Galra didn’t really seem ones for subtlety. 

 

“This place must handle shipments from all over the Galra Empire,” Shiro said.

 

“If this is some big airport where shipments come and go, why is it hidden?”

 

“Probably because it isn’t just some big airport,” Lance shrugged. 

 

“Then, we'd better go down to take a look,” Allura said as part of the image in front of them was highlighted. “We'll need to enter here: the central control building.”

 

“I'm sorry, Princess, did you say ‘we’?” Keith asked cautiously. 

 

“I'm going with you. I've traveled through the Galra transportation hubs many times with my father before the war began. I know more about them than any of you,” Allura defended.

 

“It’s been ten thousand years, it’s bound to be different by now,” Pidge said.

 

“True, but I’ll still have more insight.”

 

“Sounds good to me. Suit up,” Shiro said. 

 

“I’d really rather you stay here.” Coran gave Allura pleading eyes.

 

“I’m going and that’s final. I do not need your permission.” Allura shot daggers with her eyes. 

 

Coran sighed. Keith would have sighed too. Allura was one of the only things he had left.

 

^*^

 

A Galra guard yawned as Shiro approached from behind. “Psst! Hey!” Shiro said, before punching the guard in the face, launching him across the room. Lance expertly took out the two robot sentry with three quick shots. 

 

Pidge and Hunk began hooking up Shiro’s arm to the control panel while Lance and Keith kept watch. “All clear,” Keith informed. 

 

“This shouldn't take too long.” Hunk plugged in a small wire. 

 

“We'll have all the information we need in a few minutes.” Pidge started typing. 

 

The Paladins began to talk amongst themselves as Keith continued to keep watch. “Sorry to interrupt, but I think we got company,” he said as a dark shadow from the ship passed over them. They all ducked down low, making sure not to be seen. 

 

“We just need a few more seconds,” Pidge said as she continued typing. The panel above them started flashing and a screen appeared. They all dodged out of its view and a Galra walked into its view on the ship. He stood there and made a noise of confusion, supposedly at the lack of Galra, or anyone, on the other side. 

 

“I think he’s waiting for a signal,” Lance whispered.

 

Hunk nodded and stayed low. He moved across the floor with the Galra droid and propped it up in the view of the panel. He moved the droid's arm, doing his best to make a motion of affirmation. The Galra soldier raised his hand in understanding, and the screen snapped shut with a small beep.

 

“Done!” Pidge announced cheerfully. Keith gave her an impressed look.

 

“What do we have?” Shiro asked.

 

“Nothing…” Pidge said quietly, stunned. “This place doesn't have any useful information. Just a schedule of the ships coming in and out.” 

 

“There’s got to be something more here,” Lance declared. 

 

“Or maybe this whole mission was pointless,” Keith grumbled. It couldn’t be that? This place was way to… not Galra… to not have any information. 

 

“Wait. Pidge, do you know where that ship is headed?” Allura asked, pointing at the ship that had just landed.

 

“Um, it's scheduled to be here for about a half an hour, then head off to Central Command.” 

 

“That's where they have the information we need, and I'm going to sneak aboard that ship and get it for us.” 

 

“Do you know how long a half an hour is?” Keith’s eyebrows scrunched together. She couldn’t possibly think that was enough time.

 

“No, not really. It’s quite a bit of time, is it not?” 

 

“Half an hour is similar to half a varga. Quite a bit of time, but not a lot for this kind of thing. Who knows how long it would take to download that information?” Pidge explained.

 

“Based on how long it took for this information to be downloaded it shouldn’t take long. I’ll be in and out, no getting sidetracked,” Allura said cogently. 

 

“How are you even going to get in?” Keith asked.

 

Allura took off her helmet. “Shapeshifting,” she said directly as her form began to change. She grew taller and her skin turned purple. 

 

“I honestly shouldn’t be surprised anymore…”

 

“More alien shit!” Pidge grinned. 

 

“Language!” Shiro scolded. 

 

“I’ll use his uniform as a disguise.” Allura pointed to the unconscious body of the Galra guard. 

 

“You can’t go in there alone,” Shiro said. Why did she want to go alone? That just sounded like a dumb accident waiting to happen. 

 

“I do  _ not _ need your permission.” Allura glared at him.

 

“I’m coming to, you’ll need my arm.”

 

“How are you going to get Shiro on board?” Keith asked.

 

^*^

 

Soon Shiro was shoved inside a crate and they were both headed onto the ship. 

 

^*^

 

“What do you think they have in all those giant containers?” Keith wondered aloud. 

 

“Well, I suspect that it's sporks,” Hunk said. Keith and Lance glanced over to him, confusion almost tangible in their gaze. “What? This is an advanced race we're talking about here. Surely, they've learned that it's foolish to have forks and spoons when one tool will efficiently do the job.”

 

“Hunk… the containers glow.”

 

“Also sporks are kind of terrible…”

 

“Maybe this guy will tell us,” Pidge said from behind the three. “What is coming in and out of this station,” she asked the droid. 

 

“Interrogation detected. Initiating lockdown,” the droid spoke.

 

“Not talking, eh?” Pidge asked with a cocky smirk on her face. Her fingers began moving a mile a minute, typing away. Keith almost laughed at the girl’s dramatics. 

 

“Woah,” Keith said, drawing Hunk and Lance’s attention from Pidge. He had kept watching. “Check out this guy.” 

 

A mysterious cloaked figure now stood by the containers. There was a strange energy emulating from him. Dark and twisted in a way that made Keith’s chest clench.

 

“Whatever's happening here that requires the base to be kept secret must have something to do with that creepy dude,” Keith said pointedly.

 

“He looks like some weird wizard guy,” Hunk said casually. 

 

“He does look a lot like a death eater…” Lance said, a curious smile appearing on his face.

 

“I’m going to check it out,” Keith said, getting up and crossing the room.

 

Lance sighed. “How about we just lay low and you don't blow our cover?” Keith ignored him, continuing toward the door. “Keith, think about what you're doing.” His tone got sterner. Keith considered it for a moment, but his curiosity was peaked. Besides, he would be back before Shiro and Allura. “Don't walk through that door!” Lance said, one last attempt before Keith exited the room. 

 

Keith continued despite Lance’s best attempts. He continued along the corridor until he was out of view of the door. His eyes flashed pink and Aiden appeared next to him.

 

“Whatever you're doing it’s probably a bad idea and you should turn back now.” Keith slowly realized that he had done the very thing Allura was going to do and he thought ridiculous.

 

“Shut up,” Keith said, no real venom in his tone. Keith continued to creep down the corridors to the cloaked figure, Aiden on his heels. Eventually, they reached the area that was exposed to the asteroid's thin atmosphere and Keith sealed his helmet. He followed the figure from above, traveling large distances with his jetpack to catch up.

 

The figure still walked with the two glowing containers. A set of large metal doors opened in front of the figure, starting to close quickly after he passed through. Keith rushed through on his jetpack, summoning Aiden on the other side. He followed the figure close behind through a maze of corridors. Soon the sentries stopped and the figure continued with the containers. Keith quickly took them out with his bayard and a little help from Aiden. 

 

Keith crept forward towards the large room. Keith gasped when he saw the hundreds of the containers of glowing yellow filling the walls of the room. One container was on a conveyor belt that ended in the center of the room. “What  _ is _ this stuff?” Keith wondered aloud.

 

“I mean… it looks kind of like quintessence but…”

 

“What’s quintessence?” Keith asked.

 

“It’s pure energy, everything contains it. It essentially is life. Most familiars have a high percentage of quintessence. But why is it here…?”

 

The creepy guy stood a few feet away from the container in the center of the room. The quintessence leaked out of the bottom of the container, spiraling downwards in a seemingly impossible way. It seemed to be sticking to the surface of an invisible sphere. The figure lifted his arms. Then it got loud. Crackling, bright purple lightning erupted from the figure’s hands. It swirled around the falling quintessence, turning it purple. It slowly flowed into a smaller container far underneath the druid. 

 

Keith’s eyes flashed lime green and Aiden vanished. “Coran, you need to see this,” he said as he turned on the camera in his visor. 

 

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Coran said over the comms. 

 

“What is that?” Pidge’s voice buzzed through.

 

An even more static voice filled the comms. “The material is quintessence, the substance with the highest known energy per unit volume in the universe.” Oh dear… Aiden was right. Why does Aiden always have to be right? I should listen to her more often.

 

“Hey, nice job, Pidge! You made him work for us,” Lance said.

 

“What? Impossible.” Coran’s voice was filled with fear.

 

“Raw quintessence material is transported here from throughout the galaxy and refined into standardized Galra fuel requirements,” the crackled voice of the droid spoke. 

 

“I can't believe it! They've found a new way acquire quintessence!” Coran sounded really scared. It must be really important.

 

Keith cut out the feed. He jumped down to where the refined quintessence was gathering. Soon a filled container was coming towards him on a conveyor belt. He jumped for it, grabbing it before it could go through the doors. As soon as he had it in his hands he opened the portal and jumped through it. He quickly closed it in case the druid decided to follow. 

 

Keith exhaled his held breath. He placed the container of purple quintessence against the wall. He took off his helmet and ran his fingers through his hair. Slowly his muscles relaxed and he put his helmet back on. He opened the portal and stepped through. He was almost immediately met with an attack, launching him across the room. 

 

Keith quickly closed the portal behind him, spinning around, and drawing his bayard. He sprinted at the cloaked figure that he began mentally calling a druid. He swung his bayard at the druid, slicing through the cloud of smoke that remained when it teleported. He sprinted at it again, yielding the same results. 

 

The druid teleported above him on a balcony. Purple electricity erupted from his hands, shooting down at Keith. Keith sprinted out of the way of the attack, his eyes flashing pink.

 

“Keith! What did you do?!” 

 

“No time!” Keith shouted back.

 

Keith quickly shot up in the air using his jetpack and launching himself at the druid. The druid’s magic launched him backward, crashing him into one of the containers of unrefined quintessence on the far wall. He summoned Aiden to him. “Keith!” she shouted. 

 

Keith groaned and clutched his hand. The impact had shredded the glove and some of the skin underneath. “Magic! Now!” Aiden said. For the fourth time ever, Aiden was bright blue. She was angry, scared, and full of flaming energy. 

 

Keith minorly healed some of his hand as quick as he could and readied a fireball to throw at the druid. Just as he was about to throw it a ball of purple electricity was sent straight at him. He sprinted away before he could get hit and used his jetpack to launch away from continuous attacks. Every time his feet hit a surface he launched a fireball in the direction he thought the druid might be. 

 

Aiden was trapped under rubble and can hardly move. Keith’s eyes flashed lime green and it was like she was never there. Quintessence was spilling everywhere. That's when the lightning hit’s Keith in the head, and everything faded to black. 

 

^*^

 

Racing against the hyperspeed timer, Shiro and Allura sprinted for the escape pods. They got through the hanger doors and closed them as quickly as the can. That's when the blaring hyperspeed alarm stops. Allura shoots the remaining sentries down and puts her helmet back on. 

 

She exhaled. “We aren’t going into hyper speed…” Shiro noticed.

 

“Yeah…” 

 

Soon they had exited the ship to safety. They didn’t notice the reason the ship went back… Not until five minutes later when they were searching for him and overheard the guards talking about a captured paladin. The ship had left a minute prior.


	18. Chapter 18

“You mean to tell me… Keith is on that ship?”

 

Shiro was furious. Conflict flashed through his face. What would happen to Keith? What if he got hurt? What if he died?

 

“Damnit, Keith,” Lance groaned. “I should’ve tried harder to make him stay.”

 

“What was he doing?” Allura asked.

 

“He was following some spooky guy and then he found a room filled with quintessence,” Pidge explained sheepishly.

 

“Si él no muere, lo mataré,” Lance muttered under his breath.

 

“And now he’s on the ship headed for Zarkon’s central command… imprisoned.”

 

“That’s what I heard the guard say…” Guilt seeped into Hunk’s breath. He barely breathed between the words. He sounded like he was about to cry.

 

“We should get back to the ship.”

 

^*^

 

“Where’s Keith?” Coran asked as soon as the stepped onto the bridge. “What happened?”

 

“They captured him. He went off on his own… He ended up on the ship to central command. No one had a clue until it was too late,” Shiro explained. Harsh emotion in his tone drove the message into everyone’s cores. 

 

“How is that possible!” Coran all but yelled.

 

“We don’t know…” Pidge whispered sheepishly.

 

“Pidge, do we have information other than where he’s headed?” Shiro asked. He was terrified for his brother.

 

^*^

 

Lance was scared, though his expression wouldn’t show it. His expression showed concern. Concern for their missing teammate. Concern for the team’s wellbeing. 

 

Lance thoughts drifted back and forth from the possibilities. Keith could have gotten caught on purpose. Keith does know he’s Galra. Keith is terrified and alone out there. Keith summoned his ghost for company while he waited to be tortured for information. Keith is already dead. 

 

Nope. Nope. Nope.

 

Not going there.

 

Keith was going to be okay. They were going to go get him. He wouldn’t die. The death eater guy wouldn’t murder him. He was being held prisoner by the ruler of-

 

Wait a second. How could Zarkon rule the entire universe? If the universe is constantly expanding and things are getting further apart… Maybe he could rule a galaxy… but galaxies were so big. And ruling two? Without Altean wormhole magic? Travel time would be a nightmare. He is ten thousand years old or something… Is Zarkon immortal? 

 

_ Shut up! _ Lance told himself. He was getting off track. His friends were coming up with a plan to get their teammate back and he was thinking about the impossibilities of something that was happening. 

 

“Stop bickering!” Allura’s voice cut through his thoughts. The background noise from Hunk, Pidge, and Coran’s argument ceased. “We need a sound plan. Placing blame will do nothing for Keith.” 

 

The three gave a reluctant: “Yes princess.”

 

Steadily they went through their different options. At some point, Hunk mentioned the thing the rest were trying not to pay attention to. 

 

“We can’t form Voltron without Keith,” he said. “Without Voltron, we don’t have a huge amount of firepower.” 

 

“Hunk’s right. We are going to need to be stealthy.” 

 

^*^

 

A groan escaped Keith as he slowly regained consciousness. He slowly sat up in the dark room, dimly illumined in a magenta hue. He slowly noticed his surroundings. He was still in his paladin armor, though a piece seemed to be missing from the chest plate and his helmet was missing. His hands were cuffed together behind him. His head throbbed harshly. 

 

He tugged at his cuffs lightly. He hissed slightly, there must have been a large bruise running up his right forearm. Keith’s eyes flashed pink, and the pressure in Keith’s head momentarily increased. He inhaled sharply.

 

A few moments of recovery later he tried again, yielding the same results. “Come on Aiden,” he muttered. His eyes flashed pink again, and Keith laid back down. Minutes of this passed. A flash of light and a hiss of pain. Until finally something new was added.

 

“Keith!” A panicked voice said. He almost didn’t register it as he tried again. 

 

He stopped and opened his eyes. “Hi Aiden,” he croaked. 

 

Aiden padded behind him, and he heard her chomp through the cuffs. Suddenly the headache was gone. “What the-?” 

 

“Those cuffs were warded,” Aiden answered his unasked question. 

 

“What does that mean?” He sat up slowly rubbing the remaining ache out of his head.

 

“It  _ means _ that whoever cuffed you wanted to stop you from doing magic.” Aiden started sniffing around the cell.

 

Keith rubbed his right wrist. “Well they didn’t do a very good job, did they?” 

 

“Don’t sound so smug, you don’t know the whole situation.”

 

“I should look into warding, might be useful.” Keith stood up to join Aiden in examining the cell.

 

“It could very well save your life.” They examined the walls of the cell in silence for a few moments.

 

“I think a trip to the library would help,” Aiden said. Just like that everything that happened came rushing at Keith. He was a fucking dumbass. He didn’t understand why he hadn’t questioned why he was here. He had hardly registered this was a Galra cell. 

 

Keith opened the portal to the library, stepping through with Aiden in toe. “Remember the spell I tried to teach you?” Aiden asked. Keith hummed, scanning the shelves for anything that might help. “There may have been casting words for it. I think, perhaps, that the spell may be exactly what we need.” 

 

“Do you even know what book it could be in?” Keith asked.

 

Aiden sighed. “I suppose I don’t.”

 

“Then this is useless.” Keith glared at the books around him and stepped back through the shimmering portal. Aiden followed and he closed it behind her. 

 

Keith placed his hands on the door of the cell. He focused his energy on molding with the hard metal. “Clear all thoughts from your mind,” Aiden said.

 

Keith growled and his eyes flashed lime green, banishing Aiden. He closed his eyes and focused on the cold metal of the door seeping through his gloves. Everything else around him numbed. A slight warmth erupted from his fingertips. He pushed slightly, feeling his hands meld into the door. CRASH! Keith was shot across the room, colliding with the far wall of the cell. Pain erupted across his back, head, and legs. 

 

Keith groaned as he sat up. He placed a hand on the back of his head, quickly drawing away with a hiss as his fingers hit a warm sticky substance. He attempted to relax before drawing his fingertips back near his head. His hand glowed lavender as he placed his hand around the wound. The pain slowly vanished and Keith moved on to his other injured muscles. 

 

When he was fully healed, Keith stood up again and moved towards the cell door. Before he could place a hand on the doors they opened. Keith tensed and took a step backward. A cloaked figure with long white hair, purple skin, and red markings stood in front of him, flanked by two cloaked figures wearing white and gold masks.

 

The center figure didn’t move as the two beside her moved towards Keith. “He broke the wards…” the center figure said. “I’m almost impressed.” The two figures wearing masks pulled what looked like a syringe out of a fold in their dark robes.

 

Keith threw a fireball at one of the figures as it made an attempt to grab him. With the little maneuverability he had in the small cell he ended up moving closer to the other druid.  _ Fuck, _ was his only thought as the druid injected the needle through the fabric of his suit into his skin and he quickly lost consciousness.

 

^*^

 

A shocking sensation rips through Keith, releasing a hard scream from his throat. “What’s your name, little paladin?” a soft feminine voice asked. Keith opened his eyes and glared at her. She had short, purple, hair and was wearing the standard Galra uniform. She sat there with a relaxed posture, leaning back in her chair, away from the table separating them.

 

Keith tugged on his restraints slightly, receiving a small shock everytime he did so. “That won’t do you any good,” the Galra said, humor in her voice. “No one can break out of those restraints alone.” 

 

Keith, it was possible, glared harder. “Oh don’t be like that. Come on, what’s your name, dear? Won’t hurt anybody if I know your name,” she said sweetly. Keith kept his lips in a firm line. He had heard about this tactic, get the person to answer harmless questions and soon they would be answering any question without realizing. “Well,” the Galra smiled. “My name is Mav.” 

 

Mav repositioned herself, she folded her hands and propped her elbows on the table, leaning on her hands. “If you don’t answer the question, love, you’re going to get a nasty shock.” Keith noticed a small remote in her hand as he went to press a button with her thumb. A shock ruptured through Keith’s body, coursing through his veins. A scream ripped open his mouth, burning his throat.

 

He wouldn’t be surprised if by the end of this his throat was raw. He shivered at the thought. He was in deep shit. When was he going to be getting out? Were his friends coming for him? Yes. They were definitely coming, they wouldn’t leave him behind. He had no doubt in his mind that they were coming. He smiled slightly at the thought, then realized Mav was talking again.

 

“-name won't hurt anyone, will it, love?” Mav smiled sweetly, like she hadn’t just electrocuted him with the fire of a million suns. 

 

“Yes,” Keith managed.

 

“Yes, it will hurt someone?” She smiled as if she were holding back a laugh. “I think it’ll hurt a lot more if you don’t.” To demonstrate she pressed a different button on the small remote, it only had four buttons. A small shock ran through Keith’s body. His stomach churned. “It’s so easy, I bet you know your name well. I gave you mine in a snap.” She snapped. “Nothin’ bad’s going to happen if you say your name.” She kept her sickeningly sweet tone throughout it all.

 

Mav continued her attempts to coax Keith’s name out of him for a while longer. She pressed the two buttons over and over as she repeated the same question. “What’s your name, dear?”

 

Eventually, Keith broke. Tears from the pain stuck to his face and he cried out. “Keith! My name is Keith.” His throat ached and his nerves burned.

 

“See, was that so hard, Keith?” Mav asked, her voice still honey sweet. “I think you should be rewarded for that.” A druid entered the room and Keith stiffened. The druid placed a hand on him and the pain from the shocks and the screaming disappeared. Silently the druid left the room. “Now, Keith, what's the black paladin’s name?” When his lips stayed firmly shut she pressed the remote and a small shock coursed through him. 

 

It continued like that. Mav would ask for names and when he didn’t respond varying amounts of electricity would shoot through him. Eventually, when Keith had given up Shiro and Hunk’s names, Mav got bored and left the room. Keith’s eyes flashed pink as soon as the door closed behind her, and Aiden appeared beside him.

 

“Keith, what happened?” She asked, yellow and tense.

 

Keith groaned. Aiden got to work on freeing Keith from the straps holding him to the chair. “I’m surprised they didn’t ward the chair,” Aiden muttered. Soon, Keith was freed. He quickly healed himself and walked to the door. Much to their surprise, the door opened when they walked up to it. 

 

“Why did they leave it unlocked?” Keith mumbled. It left something unsettled inside of Keith. He chose to ignore it, continuing down the hall, careful to avoid the patrolling sentries.


	19. Chapter 19

Keith and Aiden stuck close to the walls of the winding corridors. This damn ship was a maze, looking left seemed no different than looking to your right. If he could find a pod bay of some kind he could get out of here. So far his wanderings had been fruitless. He carefully wandered the large ship. He sliced through any unfortunate droids that spotted him with his bayard and whispered to Aiden as to where they should go next.

 

Keith slipped behind a pair of guards. Stupidly he backed into a room. Never back into a room. Why was he watching the guards anyway? They never turn around. Adrenaline shot through him as he realized what he had done. Quickly he spun around and breathed a breath of relief. He was in a pod bay. Just where he needed to be.

 

Aiden wasn’t beside him. Keith’s eyes flashed lime green and then pink and Aiden appeared next to him. “I can’t believe you locked me in the damn hallway,” she muttered bitterly. 

 

Keith ignored her and began walking over to a small fighter ship. Before he crossed two yards, a puff of black smoke appeared in front of him. Keith paled slightly as the smoke cleared, revealing the woman that visited the cell. Keith readied his stance and drew his bayard, activating it. “Who the hell are you supposed to be?”

 

The woman cackled maniacally. “They call me Haggar, little paladin.” Purple and black electricity began sparkling at her fingertips.

 

“Oh, don’t act like you don’t know my name.”

 

Aiden growled at her from next to him. Keith was shocked that she was actually making noise. Burning a bright blue, she had her feet planted into the ground.

 

Haggar threw a stream of lightning at him. He deactivated his bayard and raised his arms, his forearms forming an ‘x’ and glowing teal. The lightning hit the outside of the shield he formed. He was definitely feeling better with spells. Haggar relaxed her raised arm and glared at Keith.

 

Keith reactivated his sword. He raised it, fully ready to sprint at the witch. And then shadows surrounded him. Darkness etched closer from the corners of the room and Haggar cackled. He sprinted, sliding his blade where she had stood before she disappeared in a puff of black smoke. 

 

The shadows were getting closer. If you could really call them shadows, it seemed more like pure darkness. Keith spun around, trying to find where she teleported to. Aiden was by his side again, spotting her at the same moment as him. She sprinted at Haggar, blazing blue, and she pounced. Aiden landed on nothing but black smoke.

 

Suddenly purple lightning danced across the floor towards Aiden, sending her flying across the room into a wall. She whimpered. Keith’s eyes flashed lime green and she was gone. It was just him and Haggar, and neither had laid a finger on each other. 

 

Keith lunged for her, a fireball in one hand sword in the other. “You fight like a Galra soldier,” She hissed. 

 

“I fight like a witch!” Keith shouted. He planted his feet and threw fireballs every which way.

 

Just after he stopped the doors to the pod bay opened and Shiro sprinted in. A pleased smirk crept onto Keith’s face. “Keith!” Shiro cried out. As soon as the doors closed behind him the room got darker. Haggar's cackling echoed around them. 

 

“You!” Shiro cried out, anger and panic filled his tone. Shiro’s arm glowed purple as he searched around the room for Haggar. Haggar appeared in front of him, taunting him, then vanishing and appearing to the side of him. Shiro punched and sliced where she should have been but she was too fast. 

 

Haggar was completely ignoring Keith’s attempts to harm her and was acting like Shiro was harmless. Laughing in their faces. Then there were forty of her. She was everywhere, each figure behaving like a hologram.

 

With Shiro around, Keith had given up on using magic. He swung at every figure he could, slicing through nothingness. Shiro was frozen to the spot, frantically spinning around fighting the advancing fake Haggars.

 

“I made you strong and this is how you repay me?” one Haggar said threateningly. Shiro went for her. She met his fist with her hand. Dark energy shot from her hand, knocking Shiro backward. “You could have been our greatest weapon,” She hissed, her voice coming from every direction.

 

Haggars clones disappeared. The darkness completely enveloped the room. Keith couldn’t see anything two inches in front of him. He planted his feet and raised his bayard. “Now I will destroy you,” he heard Haggar say to Shiro. Her laughter filled the air as much as the darkness. And then he was falling. There was nothing around him. Just air rushing past his ears as he spun downward.

 

He heard two thumps as he hit the ground. One from him, and one from presumably Shiro. Keith shot up to his feet. Suddenly there were many Haggars again. All facing Shiro and moving towards him. Shiro was slicing through the ghosts as soon as they got near. One in particular teleported out of the way of his hits.

 

Then she struck. Haggar’s hand glowed and her nails ripped into Shiro’s side. Keith finally knew who the real Haggar was. He sprinted for her. As Shiro was launched away. The wound was glowing an unnatural magenta hue. 

 

“And now Champion, your time is over!” she exclaimed, moving towards Shiro. Keith shot fireball after fireball at her, catching her off guard. All the other Haggars disappeared and light returned to the room. Shiro lunged for her again. She gasped and teleported away, leaving Shiro to fall to the floor painfully. 

 

Haggar didn’t return to the room as Keith sprinted to help Shiro. “Where are the others?” Keith asked as he helped Shiro stand up. The other’s had to be with him. 

 

“Pidge, I found Keith,” Shiro said to the comms.

 

“Great! Let’s get out of here,” Keith heard Pidge respond faintly.

 

Keith sighed a breath of relief. He didn’t have a scratch on him for the most part. And he should soon be back at the castle to recover. Shiro guided him to the Green Lion. Keith stumbled slightly under Shiro’s weight as the occasional small jolt of electricity shot through him. 

 

He felt twitchy. The adrenaline was still keeping him on high alert, and the residual electricity in his body from… from the torture… Nope. Not going to think about it. He hated the word. So dark and… pitiful. He was fine. He would be fine… If he didn’t think about it.

 

^*^

 

“Get in! Let’s get out of here!” Pidge said in an almost shout as they approached the Green Lion. 

 

Soon Keith had set Shiro down, and as soon as Hunk and Lance had boarded they were flying towards the Castle. Lance, Hunk, and Keith got out and headed to their lions. There wasn’t a chance to get Shiro to a healing pod. Keith grabbed an extra helmet on the way to his lion and launched out of the Castle to blast the shit out of the ships attacking the Castle.

 

As soon as an area is cleared Allura attempted to wormhole. It doesn’t work. And it continued not working. The paladins continuously fought through the waves of ships attacking the Castle and them. Without Shiro in the Black Lion they couldn’t form Voltron and if-- then the barrier around the station goes down.

 

“What was that?” Lance asked.

 

“WHO GIVES A SHIT? WORMHOLE!” Pidge said irritably.

 

Allura quickly opened one and the Castle flew through, the lions close behind. Then, rather dramatically, the wormhole shifted colors. From deep blue to a frightening magenta red. The electricity the druids wielded slashed and dashed around them, knocking the lions into the side of the wormhole.

 

Then everything stopped. And Keith’s eyes opened, at first, all he saw was the dim light of the red lion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it!

**Author's Note:**

> Comments really make my day!
> 
> ROAST ME IF YOU SEE A TYPO, COWARDS!


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